TinyHammer 40,000
by cambalopales
Summary: In the grimdark future of the 41st millennium, there is only war. Yet when a strange warp anomaly rips some of the deadliest warriors of this war-torn future into the current day, they are somewhat smaller. Heresy, Humor and Highly volatile weaponry ensue as they attempt to adapt to the 21st century, much to Kate and David's dismay.
1. My Bedroom for a Siege

**No, I didn't invent this idea, and yes, I was inspired by the brilliant work of Rouge Vector. I don't expect to do as well as him, because his story is definitely the best and I suggest you read his when you have the time.**

 _It is the 41_ _st_ _millennium_

 _For more than a hundred centuries the Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day, so that he may never truly die._

 _Yet even in this deathless state, the Emperor continues his eternal vigilance. Mighty battle fleets cross the daemon –infested miasma of the warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperors will. Vast armies give battle in His name on uncounted worlds. Greatest amongst his soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes. The Space Marines, bio-engineered super warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion: The Imperial Guard and the countless Planetary Defence Forces, the ever vigilant Holy Inquisition and the tech priests of the mechanicum to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever encroaching darkness brought upon by aliens, mutants, heretics- and worse._

 _To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold trillions. It is to live in the cruellest and most bloody regime imaginable. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be relearned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding._

 _For in the grim dark future of the 41_ _st_ _Millennium, there is only war._

++Novissime I, Novissime System, Novissime Sector, Ultima Segmentum++

++867.M41++

The Tech priest peered at the data recorder through one of his optical tubes. He was a hunched figure, draped in a dust red robe. Underneath he was a being part human, part machine, with his lower jaw replaced with a titanium plate and various other metal parts encased his body, some blinking with soft green lights, others gently whirring like a mechanical fan. What he saw on the screen of the recorder was not what he wanted to see. Quickly retracting the tube within his hood, he turned and made his way to the Magos' office. Passing quickly through the dreary bulkheads of monitoring station Alpha Sigma Novissime, he began internally processing the situation. The adept calculated thousands of possible outcomes, yet no solutions. Rounding the corner the adept quickly ascended the chrome plated steps to the circular office of the Magos. The room was entirely chrome on the inside, Cog Mechanicus signs covered the various machines and monitors in the room. The Magos was pouring over blueprints detailing the Fortress city on Novissime II.

"M'lord, we have detected an increase in warp signatures being emitted from the star", The Tech priest that entered the room began in a monotone, computerised voice "I fear it may go super nova in the next 24 hours".

The Magos straitened up and stared out the circular reinforced glass window that faced the systems other 3 planets. He remained this way for a few minutes before turning to the younger tech priest. The Magos also wore a red rob, but one could not call him human. His entire body was either encased or entirely replaced with mechanical parts. If not for the human eyes and nose that remained upon his pale face one would assume he was a robot, and considering the large portions of his brain replaced or enhanced with machinery, he may as well have been. He leant heavily on a large axe and three mechanical arms protruding from his back continued operating the various systems on the monitor to his left.

"You are sure of this?" he asked eventually. Unlike the other tech priest his voice was slower, more grating and mechanical than the adept facing him.

"99.89%, allowing for a 0.10% margin of error"

The Magos let out a sound like steam escaping a jug, and the other tech priest realised he was sighing. "Do we have time to tell the others?"

"Negative, we barely have time for a frigate to enter warp space, let alone the cruisers of the Imperial Navy above Novissime III"

"Well, I suppose we wait then"

"Indeed Magos, it has been an honour serving with you"

The Magos didn't respond. It took just another half hour before the warp flames from the exploding star engulfed the first planet of the system.

…

++Terra, Sol System, Sol Sector, Solar Segmentum++

++015.M3++

The rain drummed against the roof as I tried to get to sleep. I tossed, and turned, and eventually sat up, giving up on trying to welcome sleep.

"What are you doing?" Kate asked sleepily.

"Just going to the toilet"

"Well you're either in the bed or out, you're letting in the cold by sitting up like that" She turned over away from me. I pushed myself up from the bed, pulled the sheets back up and made my way to the bathroom. Stumbling through the darkness of our bedroom I came across the door to the bathroom and it slid it to side. The cold of the tiles radiated up my feet as I stepped inside. I switched on the light, flooding bathroom with light, amplified by the white tiles of the room.

"I swear to god David if you don't close that door" Kate moaned from the Bed. I grinned, called out an apology before sliding the door closed and shutting off the light to the bedroom. Before I could move to the Toilet and relieve myself I heard the dog start barking.

"God dammit" I muttered, making my way to the other door leading into the hall way. As soon as opened it Lightning bolted past, honouring his name sake quite nicely. The Airedale terrier cowered at the entrance to the bedroom, refusing to come when I called. As I got closer, I noticed a burn mark streaking along the length of him, searing his golden goat and scaring him to the flesh.

"The fuck?" I asked him. He provided no answer and I decided to go the way lightning had come to find the root of the problem. I crept along the wall, deciding against turning in the light and making me stumble every few steps. The upstairs hallway leading to our bedroom was on the east wing of the house, with the two spare bedrooms branching off to my left, and I used the doorframes to steady myself through the dark. About a meter before I rounded the corner to the stairs, a blue flash appeared, illuminating the hall and reflecting against the windows facing the west.

 _Lightning_ , I waited for about 30 seconds and still no thunder, _not lightning._

Thus I continued towards my objective. I rounded the corner and descended the stairs, and that's about when the sounds reached me. Gunfire, admittedly it sounded very distant, but it made me falter. It did not sound like it was getting any closer, so I again continued down the stairs.

…

"Emperors fury, see that tau Tank column about twenty clicks east? Light it up" Uriel Ventris, Captain of the Ultramarines Fourth Company, voxed the Warlord Titan. The captain watched the encroaching xeno lines through his auspex sensors, the helmet enhancing what even his superior eyesight could not make out in the dark.

"Understood." Princeps Xavier of the Warlord Battle titan voxed back and the massive war walker rotated its chassis to fire its plasma destructor at the collection of Xeno Tanks. A plume of plasma fire exploded from the column as the Tau tanks were consumed by the power of a miniature sun. Xavier grinned and opened the cooling vents in preparation for his next shot with the god machine.

"Brother Captain," Marcus, the Blood Angel's librarian, said as he ran over to the captain. His blood red terminator armour was adorned with various purity seals and his psychic hood pulsed blue in time with the Space Marine psykers rapid battle thoughts. "Any sign of the native xeno beast?"

Ventris turned to him. The Ultramarines captain was decked in the classic blue power armour of his chapter, only the Green trim of the Shoulder plates and his ornate helm would make him stand out from the ranks of his brother Astartes. "None yet, brother, it appears we have defeated it." The Blood Angel grinned and whirled around, adding his Storm Bolter the storm of fire being laid upon the Tau gun line.

At that moment the captain spotted another giant being descending the massive stairs the previous creature had retreated up. This one walked on two legs, and lacked the hair the last one had. It almost looked like a human. A giant, mutant human. Ventris panicked for a moment, but only a moment, for he was a space marine, the Emperors Angels of Death. And He Shall Show No Fear.

"Princeps, is the god machine ready?" the captain once again contacted the Titan's commander

"Almost, m'lord."

"Once ready, fire at the giant on the stairs." The Princeps raised an eyebrow at this new set of orders. Immediately, he ordered the titan to rotate its massive abdomen towards the stair way the last xeno beast left and he saw it. This new beast was so large, his own mighty titan only came up to its knee joints.

"By the emperor," he whispered "lock plasma destructor, let's smoke this beast!" the titan commander ordered, and the low hum of the massive plasma cannon charging filled the command pulpit.

…

I was confronted with a war zone. Exact details were hard to make out in the dark, but gun barrels flashed and tracers arched across the living room. In addition to the ballistic weaponry, blue bolts also streaked out, making the whole room light up like a night club. The shooting, screaming and explosions all mixed in the air to make an almost unbearable din of battle. But from where I stood, the weapons looked very small, nothing like what I had seen in Afghanistan.

What. The. Hell.

On the far side of the room, next to the fireplace, what looked like a giant metal toddler strode forth. The light from the smouldering embers in the fireplace reflected off the machines chrome plating, creating a sort of orange haze around it. But that was not what worried me. One of its arms started glowing blue, slowly building until it was almost white. Too late did I relies that this was a weapon, and even later did I relies it was directed at me. The massive bolt reached out and caught me in the shoulder, shearing nerves, ripping fabric and burning skin. The wall behind me must have caught most of the damage, because a whole had been bored right through to the frame.

"Holy shit!" I yelled, grabbing my injured shoulder in pain. I immediately withdrew up the stairs and ran back to the bedroom.

Whatever was down there clearly wasn't something I wanted to mess with.

…

"Admiral Talser," The captain called over the Vox "Take the 68th Elysian and chase that beast, find out if there are more of them, and if there are any bigger ones. I'll send the 657th Krieg in to assist when possible" A burst of static and a confirmation call from the admiral.

In the Darkness, Valkyrie engines flared and the imperial gunships lifted off with their elite cargo, intent on destroying whatever it was that resided up those stairs.

…

"Seriously" Kate said, unconvinced. She sat up in the bed in her pink night gown, looking at me with a 'let me go back to sleep you stupid twat' look. The bedroom was now illuminated with light, and she looked incredibly disappointed with my sudden appearance. The bed faced the only window to the north, with shelves along with the wardrobe along the side walls. The doors to the bedroom and bathroom left and right of the bed respectively.

"Seriously! There are…things down there, and one of them shot me!" I showed her the seared meat on my right shoulder. The flesh was pink with the colour of fresh skin, and it stunk of burnt meat. It had started to scab already, which was uncharacteristic of normal gunshot wounds, but then again I'm fairly certain whatever shot me wasn't a normal gun.

"Oh my God!" she gasped at the wound, and pulled herself out of bed to get a closer look. She peered at the wound then looked up at me. "How'd you do it?"

"Me!? I didn't do it, something shot me like I just said!"

"You probably burnt yourself on the fire place in the dark. I'm going to take a look for myself" She took a step towards the door.

"Don't!" I almost screamed. She turned to me and put a hand on her hip.

"Please, I can handle myself"

The minute she opened the door a salvo of miniature rockets flew in the door, narrowly missing my girlfriend and hitting the wall behind her. She yelped in surprise and slammed the door. I raised an eyebrow and she glared back, blowing a lock of blonde hair out of her eye.

"Shut up"

…

"Bank Left!" the Co-pilot yelled and the vulture turned sharply, narrowly avoiding smashing into the door that had materialised in front of them.

"Admiral, there is a third beast, similar to the second one, though it had longer hair and appeared more feminine" the pilot voxed in.

"Copy that 12th, we're sending you the position of the temporary airfield" Talser responded.

"Aren't we going to try breakthrough?"

"No no, leave the Krieger's to take care of that"

…

"What do we do?" Kate exclaimed. Lightning was now hiding under the bed, and I don't blame him. I think I got hit by the same thing he got hit with.

"Calm down, maybe we should call the police" I tried, cycling through the possible solutions to this incredibly bizarre problem.

"Ha. They wouldn't believe you. And maybe they'll kick us out of our home for further investigation! You know hard it'll be for us to get another house with our current financial situation!" that was the accountant in Kate coming out.

"They'd give us a rebate" I tried

"The GV of this place is about $30,000 less than what we paid for it, you think we'll get a house like this again?"

"Alright, alright we won't call the police" I sighed.

We were in such a rush to figure out what was going on, neither of us had paid much mind to our attire. She had changed out of her night gown and wore loose green track pants with a pink t-shirt that had 'my little pony' on the front. Not the most flattering of costumes but she could make anything look beautiful on her. He blonde hair was a mess, frizzy all over yet stuck up at all sorts of angles on one side, indicating the side she preferred to sleep on. I wore a red t-shirt with "Winnes Pizza bar' on the front and black cotton pants. My dusty brown hair was equally messed up. I sighed and sat down heavily on the bed.

"Maybe we can deal with it in the morning, they probably won't try come through"

"Can you actually sleep knowing what's out there?" she asked in a condescending tone. I pondered her somewhat obvious question for a bit

"You're right, what do we do?"

"You're rifle is down stairs isn't it?" She said, snapping her fingers "You get it and scare them away" I thought about the weapon that had nearly burnt my shoulder off and then considered what my Springfield 303 rifle would do to the thing that wielded it. But seeing the look on Kates face, I reconsidered my position. This was my house, and hell if I'm giving it up to whatever the hell was on the other side of that door. A new Bravado flowed through me, I had faced the Taliban multiple times during my tour, surely that toddler sized robot was no less threatening than those savages terrorising Afghanistan. Just as I was about to leap up and storm out that door into the line of fire of my house invaders, we heard something hammer against the door.

…

Tenebrae Lowered his arm, and the Earthshaker cannons roared as their shells leapt out at their target. Earthshaker cannons were some of the most devastating guns the Krieg regiments had on offer, yet all it was doing to this massive door was creating small black marks across its face. Clearly this wasn't going to work. Tenebrae left the assembled gun line to continue hammering the door while he would consult alternate methods of entering the beast's compound. The 2nd column of the 657th arrived, Gorgons rumbled in with the remainder of the infantry, centaurs hauled ammo tugs and more earthshakers on limber up to the line. But that's not what the Quartermaster wanted. He smiled as two Hades Breaching drill rumbled up behind the column

"Engineers! Line up!" He yelled and several Krieg soldiers gathered in front of him before snapping to attention. Each carried a shotgun, several grenades and a shovel.

"On the other side of this door, is the lair of these gigantic Xeno beasts. They have proven weak in the face imperial fire power, but we need more information about what we're going up against. No other options remain, you will bore through the door. Whether you live or die, your service to the Emperor will not be forgotten!"

"The Emperor protects!" the Kriegsmen yelled back. Tenebrae signalled, and the Hades Breaching drills lurched forward and made their way towards the door, engineers following close behind. As they approached, the drills began rotating, the drivers gunned their drill tanks forward and they started boring into the door.

…

"Oh…shit…are they drilling in?" Kate quivered. Sure enough, the distinctive sound of a drill could be heard through the door. I immediately assumed that one of those walking toddlers was boring through with drill arms. Something like that would almost certainly take my arm off, finishing what its gun toting brother had begun. Either that or they just have big tanks with drills on the end. Either way I didn't want to be there when they broke through.

Could we hide in the Bathroom? No, they would find us and kill us much easier in that confined space. Rush them? My Shoulder was proof that such a plan would end in tears. There was just one option left. I went over and opened the window opposite our bed. It over looked the garden, and the rain had softened the ground, reducing any kind of shock from jumping. The rain was really coming down now though, we would get soaked through for sure.

"Alright, put Lightning in the bathroom. We'll jump out the window, sneak round to the study, climb through that window and grab my gun. Then we can flank these things from the stairs"

"OK, lemme grab my jacket" Kate turned towards the wardrobe before another set of explosions shook the door. "Scratch that, let's go."

The window was about a metre across and two metres tall. Kate's slim frame would slip through easy. I was a little more muscled, but I was no less lanky. My old platoon mates called me bones in response to my less than standard build. I pulled myself onto the window sill and swung my legs around bellow me. I turned towards Kate, grinned and let go of the edge.

…

David dropped out the window and landed in the garden. There was a thud, provoking a groan from my boyfriend. I rushed over and stuck my head out, only to see him grinning up at me, mud splattering his forearms, knees and feet.

Seeing my disgusted face he called out "Come down the waters fine" he smirked. "I'll catch you if you want"

I rolled my eyes at his 'pleasantries' and swung my legs over the edge. I hadn't noticed how high up this window was till now. I gripped the window sill so tight my knuckles went white

"Today would be grand" David mused.

"When I get down from here I will hurt you"

"I'm sure, I'm just curious when we'll get to that point, maybe with a searing hole in your back?" the thought of my lifeless body tumbling down into the mud made me gasp. The drilling was more audible now, and I turned my head to see the silver tip of a drill poke through the bottom of the door.

I took a deep breath, and propelled myself out the window towards the ground.

 **So, how did that opening go? Good? Bad? Innovative? Boring? Stupid? Brilliant? Original? Carbon-copy? Grammar mistake ridden? Flawless?**

 **Leave a review and look forward to (or loath) the coming of the next chapter. Until then, farewell.**


	2. High Calibre Munitions Talk

**And we're back! This chapter again changes the conventions of these stories slightly, as it introduces various leaders (though not all) through combat in David and Kate's house. However by the end of the chapter things will… straighten out? It'll be the end of the encounter that's for sure.**

 **Oh, I should mention I have a month cap on the waiting time for chapters. So if you're getting impatient, I will make sure one is out at lease every month. HOWEVER, the more reviews/follows/favourites I get, the quicker you get a chapter. This is because I hate disappointing my readers, and by reviewing, following and whatnot, you heap more guilt onto me as I see the number of people expecting a chapter grow. Don't get me wrong I love writing this (seriously I'm planned story wise up to chapter 4 already), but it's that little bit of encouragement that comes from a positive review (or the clear challenge emitted from a critical one). I will PM anyone who reviews my story directly, since I like to respond quickly rather than wait until a new chapter (finally) comes out**

 **Put simply: More Reviews = More Chapters, faster**

 **Thought for the day:** _In these Dark Times, true heroism rarely stems from kind acts_ – Commissariat saying

++ Terra, Sol System, Sol Sector, Solar Segmentum++

++015.M3, 23:46, GMT +12++

I landed on David, sending him sprawling across the garden floor with me following on top. He landed back first in the mud with me straddling his body, saving me the similar mud coverage, excluding the legs of course. Looking out from the north face of our bedroom, you could see our entire property, which wasn't too small. It was covered mostly with a large green lawn that had become swampy in the downpour. I couldn't see it, but the property was ringed by beach tree forest. Despite the light show that was pulsating from our windows, there were no neighbours to see. No help would come from anyone else tonight. David groaned and I looked back down at him.

"Thanks honey" I smiled, leaning forward to kiss him on the forehead before standing up. He glowered and took my hand in helping him up. The rain was bitterly cold, stinging as it hit my exposed forearms. Within seconds, my hair had been soaked through and now stuck to my scalp like glue. I rushed over to the house, attempting to take shelter underneath the overhang. David followed behind, a slight limb coming on.

"You okay?" I asked

"I'm fine, what about you?" he asked, pulling a soaked tendril of hair out of my eye.

"Cold" I admitted. He nodded grimly.

"Only one way to fix that…" and he went in for a hug. I returned the gesture, only for him to spin and walk towards the corner of the house.

"Keep moving"

"I hate you"

…

The Hades breaching drills lurched into the room, their engineer support following close behind. They kept their shotguns ready, expecting resistance at any minute. After it became apparent that the beasts had evacuated, the lead engineer, Zaitsev, signalled second squads vox operator over. He pulled the receiver out of the pack and set the frequency to the Tenebrae's command squad.

"This is Digger Alpha Nineteen to Top Brass. Repeat, Digger Alpha Nineteen to Top Brass"

There was a burst of static then Tenebrae's grim voice, "This is Top Brass. Proceed Nineteen, what have you found?"

"The Beasts are gone, sir. Though they appear to have left some of their belongings." The sergeant replied, slowly advancing towards the massive fabric-like mountain in front of them.

"Understood, clear for infantry support?"

"Affirmative, Quartermaster"

"Sending 3rd platoon through the breach now"

"Roger that, Digger Alpha Nineteen out" Zaitsev put the receiver back in the pack, before clasping his shotgun and moving to the head of the squad. They had advanced to within 5 meters of the mountain like area, and were preparing to investigate.

"What's the deal Sarge?" Schneider, the squad's flamer operator, asked. Blue flame flickered at the end of his weapon, ready to ignite into a stream of burning promethium at the slightest pull of the trigger.

"You and Marnel with me, follow close behind and prepare to fire at a moment's notice" The pyromaniac nodded with glee, and stepped forward with Marnel, the squads designated close combat specialist, behind the Sergeant. The group of three crept towards the mountain, their heads on a swivel for any sign of enemy activity. Zaitsev held up his hand and the squad paused, weapons poised. The sergeant knelt down and pulled off one of his rubber protective gloves. He ran the smooth, pink fabric through his fingers, trying to grasp what this alien material was. Eventually he stood and turned to the gathered troopers.

"This is clearly Xeno material worthy of nothing other than the emperors burning fury. Schneider, if you please" he gestured and the flamer specialist stepped forward. While the other two soldiers backed up slightly, Schneider levelled his weapon at the mountain.

"Emperor, guide my flames" he whispered before he squeezed the firing lever ever so slightly, sending a stream of white hot promethium out at the fabric. It caught almost instantly and burned in minutes.

…

"Brothers and Sisters, withdraw to a more acceptable firing position, we're getting pinned down here!" Lord Phasmatis called to the Eldar contingent around him. They called out an affirmative and began backing away from the tau gun lines. He urged the surrounding soldiers on before hefting is laser lance and mounting his jet bike once more. The Autarch was clad in the classic red and black armour of his craftworld, but was slightly more ornate thanks to his rank.

Around him, the dismounted Saim-hann riders were clambering back into their steeds, desperately trying to start their engines after the Tau EMP detonation. Some began setting off, while others had to use the hulls of their jet bike to block the plasma fire being laid down by the tau fire warrior teams. A falcon swooped in to collect the pinned footslogging soldiers, and laid down its own suppressing fire from its shiriken cannon while the outriders clambered inside.

The Eldar were pinned against the south west corner of the living room, and while the majority of the Tau and Imperials were engaged closer the stair way, a large portion of one of the hunter cadre's was bearing down on the Eldar force. Phasmatis and his wind rider squadron were attempting a flanking manoeuvre on a hammerhead column before a tau EMP missile had struck the ground just in front of the speeding bikers, deactivating their power reactors and sending the tumbling into the ground.

Above them on what appeared to be a massive wooden table, a tau Broadside hefted its rifle and zeroed in on the hover tank. The whip crack of a railgun sounded out and the munitions bore a hole in the pilot bay of the tank, sending it spinning into the ground. Phasmatis cursed and pulled back to seek out Farseer grace. The Autarch was technically a lower rank than the Farseer, but his experience and leadership skill made him de facto leader while Grace finished her training.

"Farseer" The Autarch pulled in beside the female Phsyker. Grace was dressed in a robe dyed the same red colour of her Craftworld. It was far simpler than Phasmatis' armour, but had ancient runes etched into its fabric that greatly increase the Farseers' abilities. Her helm was bone white, and stuck out from the rest of her attire. The Farseer let off a bolt of eldritch energy at the Tau before turning to Phasmatis.

"Yes m'lord?" she asked.

"Can you sense a better position from here?" he swerved the bike to the left as a tau missile streaked past.

"Hang on" She lowered her skimmer down and raised a hand to her temple. She stayed that way for a few seconds before raising her head and turning towards the wall to their left. "In there, there is a barrier that can be moved to the side and we can move inside. There are no belligerent factions currently residing in there, we should be safe and able to recuperate there"

The Autarch nodded "I shall relay that message, move as many as you can back and cover our entry, I will follow up as a rear-guard"

…

"Sky shield squadron! See those Razorshark bombers? You know what to do" Alexander called into the vox. A burst of static before a reply

"Sorry Sir, we're holding back some XV8 suits here, maybe you could vector the navy onto them?" The Squadron leader said, though there was clear doubt in his obvious dismissal of orders.

"Are you kidding me!? What's your rank, whelp?!" The Lord Commissar called over the vox from his position on the front lines.

"Calm down Carter, excused sergeant" The General Sighed. The shaken squadron leader sent his thanks, relief evident in his voice. But Alexander was less relieved as the razorsharks sent their deadly payload into a nearby Space Marie devastator squad.

The General stood and observed the position of his forward platoons. 3rd company had "volunteered", along with Lord Commissar Carter, to stay down on the ground while the rest of the 110th pulled back up the giant stairs, utilising 46th logistical convoy's atlas recovery tanks for the heavy munitions and equipment. Alexanders command centre was set up on the third stair, with the majority of the 2nd, 5th, and 4th company on the second stair. To the right of his position, the Astartes, Sisters and Imperial Knights were still fighting across large fabric mountains and wooden skeletal constructs, pressuring the Hamerhead and Skyray gunships that would normally be hammering the 110ths position.

From where the General stood, he could see a Knight Gallant engage one of the Tau riptides. The Imperial Walker tore into the Xeno warsuit with its massive Reaver chainsword and ripped much of its internal workings out. Suddenly the two suits exploded in a huge nova reactor explosion, clearly the knight had struck the wrong part of the Riptide and caused spots of white to dazzle the General's vision.

"General, those bombers are coming around again, this time they're coming right at us" Alexanders Astropath, Sasha, whispered from beside him. Sure enough, the bombers banked and started heading for the 110th. The Astropath's ability to predict into the future was useful at times, when it predicted moves hours in advance, but less so when it only gave him 3 seconds extra warning.

"Perception was always you strongpoint wasn't it Sasha?" the General glowered, marching over and pulled the vox receiver from his command tent.

"Talser, do you have any thunderbolts in reserve?" He called to the 1026ths leader.

"I do, have some air problems General?"

"If I didn't I wouldn't be calling your stuck-up navy ass" The General snapped back. Alexander could almost hear the smile in Talser's voice

"With that attitude, they could take a while longer to refuel"

"Fuck you Talser, we're about to be hit by razorsharks"

"Give us 30 seconds to get airborne"

"You have 25" And the General slammed the receiver down on the vox box.

…

Kate and I crept around the corner and along the south wall of the east wing of the house. Without our shoes on, the cold water and mud effectively numbed our feet, slowing our stealthy advance even further. Sharp jolts went up my thigh each step I took with my right foot, and while I put on a brave face, it really fucking hurt. It was definitely Kate's fault, but I decided now is not the time to start complaining about her window evacuation skills. We passed the front door and came up to the south window of the Living room. I poked my head around and observed the miniature warzone with a little more safety than before.

Even in the dark, I could see there were small skirmishes going on across the room. Jet exhausts glowed as they performed their aerobatic dance of the dogfight. The fireplace embers was the only constant light source, casting an orange glow across the immediate floor and closest couch. War walkers similar to the one that shot me (though not as big) strode across our couch, engaging slightly smaller, more manoeuvrable walkers in close quarters. Across the ground gun barrels flared and plasma bolts arched out to meet them. But it was what stood in the middle of it all that really scared me the most. The huge, robotic chrome toddler was still striding amongst it all. On its right arm a huge Gatling cannon barrel flashing every 2 seconds, presumably spitting out munitions that would really sting. The gun that shot me was not glowing (yet), but I could make out its silhouette in the dark. Suddenly a massive flash illuminated the back of the couch and one of those walker things (or what was left of it) fell backwards and out of sight. That was enough for me, it was simply too dark to make out much else. I turned to Kate.

"Ok, it's too dark for me to make up most of what's going on in there. So if we just dart across quickly, they won't see us either"

"Sounds easy enough" Her classic moxie attitude was back. Her pink shirt was soaked through, pulling in close to her (cough)sts. I was in no better shape, we would catch a cold or worse if we stayed out here much longer.

"Alright, follow me" I gestured and, keeping as low as I could, crept along the window towards the study just ahead.

…

"Wrathknight! Drive your glaive into the wall and pull it left" Grace called. The huge wraith walker strode at the wall and stabbed its mighty weapon into it. Sure enough, once the knight pulled it to the side, the wall slid smoothly to the side as if on wheels. The first few Falcons rushed in, while others spun and provided covering fire for the rest of the warhost. The Farseer lead her mounted seer council inside while monomolecular discs flew overhead. The room was just as dark as the outside area, but was far smaller. It had a large wooden construct directly opposite the sliding wall, another slightly smaller structure was positioned in front of it. The room has a large series of shelves with what appeared to be books stacked upon it on the far wall, a window stretched across the wall the between the two structures. A large metal box stood in the far corner adjacent to the sliding wall.

"Can we get some weapons teams up there?" Farseer asked. A few soldiers nodded and switched their guns to low gravity before floating them slowly up towards the shelf above them. More tanks and bikes slipped through the gap. Eventually, thankfully, Phasmatis also speed through the gap

"Close it NOW!" he urged. Behind him a pack of kroot hounds charged at the opening.

"Shadow weaver cannons, fire at will!" The battery of cannons above lowered the filament launchers and covered the entrance with the razor sharp mesh. The hounds were shredded as they ran full boar into the net. The Autarch nodded at the Grace's strategic sense, before turning around and viewing the room.

"Your powers guide us well, Farseer" he said as the door slide into place "Let us raise a Webway gate and be gone from this place"

…

The Black Valkyrie hovered for a few seconds before setting down on the hastily cleared landing area. Talser hurried out of his command tent with a hastily assembled team of Elysians. They snapped to attention as the rear entrance of the flyer hissed downwards. Inquisitor Stygian strolled out of the craft, carrying with him an arrogant air that only an inquisitor could bring. The Admiral slightly cowered as the Inquisitor stopped right in front of him. His armour was as black as his craft, golden sigils of unknown origin etched across its obsidian surface. On his left hip, the inquisitor carried a bolt pistol loaded with the emperors blessed bolts and on his other side a sheathed blade of ornate craftsmanship. He was an impressive sight compared to the officer in front of him, who wore a navy blue dress uniform with a regular service sword and pistol at his side. Stygian stood at 6 foot 7 inches, a full foot over the admiral. Talser practically quivered under his steely gaze.

"How are the Operations, admiral" he asked, his voice mocking the lower ranked soldier.

"E-excellent m'lord, what brings you to the beast's siege line?"

"Is that what you're calling this? Unimaginative lot, you navy men. Have you actually made a breakthrough?"

"We have, inquisitor, would you like to take a look?" Tenebrae commented, marching over to the officers and saluting. Stygian turned to him

"About bloody time you guardsmen start doing something" he huffed.

"You should talk to the Commissars" The quarter master muttered "Shall we go then, m'lord? Wouldn't want to keep the men waiting"

…

"Sir, what are those" the trooper asked, peering through his binoculars. He was manning the heavy bolter on the right flank of 3rd company. Lieutenant Menoline walked up and snatched the binoculars off of him and observed the Tay line. Sure enough, two huge Greater Knarlocs were storming towards the companies lines. The first of the huge dinosaur like creatures let out a guttural roar, alerting the whole company to its charge

"By the emperor" the Lieutenant whispered, he turned to his vox operator and turned on the loud speaker before grabbing the receiver. "3rd company, withdraw to a more suitable position!" He ordered, before putting it down and making his own way to the rear lines.

Lord Commissar Carter was shocked and immediately made his way to the incompetent Lieutenant, but couldn't get to him through the streams of guardsmen now rushing from the lines in an attempt to flee the Knarlocs. Cursing, he raised his voice above what most would consider human, thanks to a few augments.

"Stand your ground, man the autocannons and cover me, I'll show you how it's done in the Progenium" he yelled at the squad before stepping out in front of the hastily assembled aegis lines. The Knarlocs were less than 100 metres away now, a few seconds from hitting the main line. Carter drew his power sword and charged.

The first knarloc saw him and roared, adjusting its charge so it centred on him. _No riders?_ The commissar thought, _fools._ Moments before they collided, the commissar dropped into a slide. The artificial, spongy surface did not carry him far, but enough so the gaping moor of the knarloc went straight over him. He thrusted his sword into the lower jaw of the beast, provoking it to scream in anguish. It shook its head to the side, flinging the commissar a few feet to its left. The Greater knarloc rounded on him, roaring a guttural challenge at the prefectus warrior.

"Do your worst beast" he growled, and raised up to shoot the dinosaur like Kroot species with his bolt pistol _._ It charged, and yet again the commissar side stepped (side dived) the unwieldy beast. He immediately got up and drove his sword into its neck. As the Beast roared in pain, Carter used the sword as a lever for which to vault himself up onto the knarloc, using the bony knobs along its body as footholds. By now the other knarloc was attacking the lines, with dozens of autocannon rounds impacting on its hardened hide. The commissar now straddled the beast, out of range of any attacks the knarloc could inflict. He then proceeded to drive his power sword straight into its head, repeatedly. Small droplets of blood were splattered across the commissars black trench coat as he stabbed into the beast's skull over and over again. Eventually the beast collapsed due to a lack of cognitive matter, falling belly first onto the ground with a thump. The other knarloc saw this and immediately retreated to its masters. The Commissar, bloodied and exhausted, staggered back to Imperial lines.

"Nice work Commissar" Lieutenant Menoline nodded his approval as Carter passed through the serried ranks of guardsmen. He immediately drew out his pistol and shot the incompetent whelp for ordering a retreat, splattering his brain matter ( _or lack thereof,_ the commissar thought _)_ all over his horrified squad. The Commissar pointed at a random guardsmen.

"You, you're in command now, get your men in line so I don't have to. If I have to make an example again I will promptly execute you for incompetence, understand?" the soldier nodded quickly and began re-assembling the platoon to a more respectable condition.

The Commissar didn't enjoy shooting guardsmen, but orders are orders. Stand your ground or suffer the consequences. Relaxing can wait till after the battle

…

Stygian strolled past the Kriegsmen with a slow kind of arrogance. The breach had been widened so Lemun Russ Tanks could move through with ease, and an investigation into the many strange items around it begun in earnest. Stygian brought his own elite troopers, scions of the Warkoni rifles, who followed him everywhere. They wore the same jet black, gold etched armour of their liege, but the symbols were more understandable. Aquilas and skulls instead of the archaic glyphs that covered the Inquisitors armour. The Inquisitor was particularly interested in a section of the giant wall that was slightly sunken behind the rest of it and elevated above the ground.

"Do we know what this is?" he asked. Tenebrae looked up at the towering section.

"A part of the wall"

"No-fucking-way" the Inquisitor turned to the quartermaster "I mean is there anything different about it structural make up?"

"Indeed, it appears to have less reinforcing than the other door sections, and auspex sensors have picked up something hiding behind it…"

"I knew it!" the Inquisitor turned to the guardsmen around them, "The Xeno beasts are hidden behind these walls, bring the breaching drills up, we're going through!"

…

"Oh fuck…" David said just before he went to open the window.

"What" I asked, fearing the worst.

"If we get this open the alarm will go off" I looked at him

"David, if the alarm was going to go off, it would have when these things started shooting. Like I told you a week ago, we need new batteries"

He pondered this for a while before responding. "Good point" he pulled out his Swiss army knife, extended some…things, and began fiddling with the latch. After 30 freezing seconds he managed to pop it open.

"Voila"

"The fact you did that so quickly is a sign we need better security, and some fucking batteries" He just grinned and pulled the window open to allow me to clamber inside. The Study was pitch black, and after he closed the window David crept over to the gun case.

While he fiddled with the lock ( _please don't tell me he forgot the key)_ I looked about the room. In the dark I could make out little lights on top of the computer table. Once my eyes adjusted I noticed that they were flickering sigils and glyphs…along with some very angry looking people pointing weapons as us. Holding back a yelp of surprise I tapped David on the shoulder.

"What? Oh hey! I got it" he opened the door and pulled his 303 out. Now I'm no gun nut, but when the light is actually on the gun, it looks elegant as far as things-that-spit-out-lead-in-order-to-kill-people-go. Its entire stock and frame were carved wood, with inly the barrel, firing mechanism, magazine and scope metal. It had the motto of the NZSAS ( _who dares, wins)_ etched on the side. He turned to me holding it by the barrel when he saw the soldiers. Immediately he put his gun to his shoulder and aimed at them.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, giant Mon-Keigh" an ominous voice called out.

"They can TALK?!" I exclaimed

"Of course we can, it's good to see you 'humans' are grasping the ideas of perception" it called back in a condescending tone.

"Who are you?" David demanded

"How about you lower your weapon first before we let out guard down"

"So you can shoot me again?"

"We never shot you," the voice replied, annoyed at the accusation "it was probably those Imperial Mon-Keigh, their crude plasma weaponry would do that to a shoulder joint like yours"

David looked at his shoulder "how did you know?"

"We know things even before the happen" a new voice replied arrogantly "Do not presume a little lack of light and cloth will hide a wound like that from me, Mon-Keigh"

"Is that what you call us, monkeys?" David sneered

"The translation would be roughly that yes,"

I decided to step in, because any minute David would pull the trigger and a mini arsenal of death lasers would be unleashed upon us. "Why don't we both lower our weapons, turn the lights on and talk like reasonable people?"

The voice pondered this for a while, "I accept your proposition, but WE shall activate the artificial lights." It paused before asking its next question "Where is the activation sigil?"

"The switch? Uh, by the door on the left" I heard a small electronic engine start up and move around a bit, before eventually stopping by the door. A click later, the room was illuminated in light, and we could see our adversaries. Which wasn't a good thing.

Across our office desk were dozens of tiny soldiers, each pointed various sized rifles and pistols at us. They were mostly red and black, with a few other colours like green and blue thrown in there. Behind them, large red hover tanks and platforms carried massive cannon looking things that were also trained on us. In amongst this were several tall beings carrying swords and lances, with a huge giant red/black walker towering a few centimetres above the rest.

It would almost seem like a joke, if it wasn't so fucking terrifying. I could tell David was thinking the same thing, but probably more like, _something that big beat me in my own house!_

Before he could say something stupid I spoke up. "Alright, you lower your weapons, we'll lower ours." A few nodded and once David had (reluctantly) set his rifle on the ground, the others did so as well (or at least refrained from pointing them at us). It became so quite you could hear a pin drop, if the din of a warzone wasn't reverberating through the wall.

"Uh, can you tell your friends to stop shooting now?"

One of the soldiers at the head of the small army shook its head in disgust "They are not our 'friends'. Barbarians. All of them. You will have to try and convince them to stop yourself"

I looked over at David, who shrugged and indicated his weapon with his eyes

…

"Really? You got shot before" Kate pointed out.

"I know I can't kill all of them, but maybe a little high calibre munition will help bring them to heel"

She sighed and turned to the army of red and rainbows "Will shooting them work?"

The leader inclined its helmeted head to the side. "Depends on the weapon…and what exactly you shoot"

At that moment I knew what to do. Hefting my rifle I made my way towards the door. When it became clear I wasn't going for them, the colourful soldiers arrayed on the computer desk held their fire. I leant against the sliding door as Kate came over.

"What are you thinking?" she asked warily.

"Something so stupid it just might work" She looked at me expecting an explanation, so I provided one. "When I slide open this door and flip the lights on that are right next to it, everyone/thing in the living room will be dazed. Using this, I will shoot the metallic toddler, destroying it and showing to them that even their most powerful weapon will fall to my weapon"

"And if they have something bigger?"

"Running remains a solid plan B" I grinned.

Time seemed to slow down as a flung the door to the side. Light from the study flooded in, blinding the first tiny soldiers milling about the entrance. A slammed my hand against the wall on my right, luckily hitting the switch first go. The rest of the room was illuminated, though some of those closest to me had gotten over the confusion. I had to act fast. Raising the rifle to my shoulder, I peered down the scope and zeroed in on my target. The air sort of shimmered around the child sized walker, giving it a ghostly look as I loaded the first cartridge.

 **Bang** , first bullet struck one of the weapons on its shoulder, wiping it clean off. **Slide, click, lock** as I loaded the second cartridge.

 **Bang,** by now the soldiers in my immediate had started firing their own tiny weapons. They fucking stung like hell, and caused mysecond bullet to miss. **Slide, click, lock.** I grimaced against the tiny pricks of pain going down my leg. If that robot thing shot me it would be far worse.

 **Bang,** my third bullet tore through its right arm, striking some sort of magazine and causing hundreds of bullets to pour out of its loading mechanism. **Slide, click, lock.**

 **Bang,** my fourthhit its left knee plate, forcing it to keel over due to its wavering support. **Slide click lock**

 **Bang,** my final bullet struck it in the other leg. Tearing the hydraulics and cables out and ripping its support base from under it. The metallic toddler fell to the ground head first and impacted with a soft thump, not getting a single shot off with its other weapon. **Slide, click, lock.** I tracked for more targets before one soldier ran out at me and yelled…

"Stop! Please, we surrender" his voice projected quite well for something of his size. He was dressed in a dust red robe and had what looked like mechanical tentacles trailing from his back. I knelt down for a closer look, just when he was tackled by a blue armoured soldier.

…

"What the hell are you doing, adept!" Ventris yelled at the Magos.

"That giant just took out our Warlord in four shots, completely bypassing its void shield and incapacitating it in 4 seconds flat" The Magos responded in a grinding mechanical voice "You really think anything else we bring against it will have a better chance?"

"You would cast away your oath to the emperor so easily?" Ventris questioned, his bolt pistol settled on the Magos' skull.

"Ventris, I have some disturbing news" Marcus said from behind the squabbling imperial servants. "I can no longer see the astronomican in the warp, I would have told you earlier but it did not seem necessary or particularly useful in the heat of battle, but now it seems such information would help out tech-priet here significantly. Either we have been completely enveloped by warp storms, or we are in another land completely"

"Is that even possible?" The captain asked, not lessening his grip on the tech priest.

"We do not fully understand what was wrong with the star we were orbiting" the Magos begun "But judging buy its power, and the unnatural nature of the warp itself, it is certainly possible"

"So we are…alone?" Ventris' grip finally loosened and his hold on the bolt pistol slackened.

"Effectively, maybe it would be best to bide our time, recuperate until we can find a way back into the emperor's light. Judging by my scanners this one…" The Magos gestured at the towering figure of David "is at least biologically human, admittedly with a much larger physique than the rest of us"

The captain pondered this for a while "Marcus, your thoughts on this?"

"The cogboy is right, captain, I suggest we stand down" The librarian responded.

Finally, the Captain turned to the giant. "Ok, beast, we lay down our arms, now what are your terms?"

 **Well there you have it. This chapter is pretty all over the place, I hope everyone is following. Everything will calm down and we'll hear their story next chapter.**

 **Remember, More Reviews = More Chapters, faster**


	3. Give Peace a Chance

**So this whole chapter is pretty much introducing the characters and giving a little background to how they got there (yay history lesson!). But from this chapter on things will be less combat oriented and more humour/settling in. But this may only last a half dozen chapters before I go back to war.**

 **To be honest this could really be cast off as a reference chapter, as it establishes my main 'protaganist' minis for these first few chapters, and if your flicking through this and there are more exciting chapters ahead of this one, go ahead and gaze upon those if you can't be bothered reading an extended description. Sorry but I just had to do this chapter, so don't get too angry because it is was more boring than the last two. This also the reason I got this one out so quick, since I already knew what I wanted them to be like.**

 **Thought for the day:** _"Do not fear death, for that is the way of all things. Instead, fear a death devoid of meaning"_ \- Lectitio Divinitatus

++Terra, Sol System, Sol Sector, Sol Segmentum++

++015.M3, 00:12, GMT +12++

"Um, what should we do now?" I asked looking back at Kate. She shrugged, having about as much experience as I did with tiny soldiers of this stature. They all looked at me with slight distrust and awe, not sure whether to draw their guns or bow. Eventually, after an awkward amount of time just staring at them, I spawned an idea.

"You all have… leaders right? Someone that will represent you all in a personnel meeting?" there were shrugs and a few scoffs, but everyone seemed to know what I meant.

"Ok we'll meet in there…" I pointed at the table in the dining room, which was adjacent to the kitchen entrance "in about 10 minutes, we can all do that?" same as before, everyone shrugged and scoffed, but most knew what to do. A few officers barked out orders to get them together and stand at ease. I know what they're going through, it's hard to go from the adrenaline rush of combat to the humdrum of parade rest and manoeuvres in a matter of seconds.

Some snapped off a few shots at one another provoking me to heft my gun "You all saw what I just did to your titan friend over there, and I have a lot more where that came from" they got the message. Suddenly my dog barked from somewhere upstairs, and oh shit if they were doing anything to my dog. I was going. To fucking. Murder. them.

Literally.

…

"Get back, its hide is too much for small arms fire" Stygian yelled before unleashing his own burst of bolt rounds. The Hades drills had bourn through the second door, but immediately been attacked by the four legged beast. It had use the hole made by the drill to nuzzle the door open, sliding it to the side with ease. Now nothing was preventing the beast from eating them all. A few exterminator tanks rolled in, but their autocannons exploded uselessly on the fur of the beast. It let out an ear splitting bark at the tanks, and immediately pounced on one of them.

Picking it up like a toy between his teeth, the beast shook it violently back and forth, concussing all inside its armoured shell. Once the dog realized it was not consumable, he dropped it and searched for more prey. That's when David came in.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" he demanded, Lightning immediately cowered and came in close to his legs. Patting his dog gently on its side, David looked over at the collection of soldiers.

"You been shooting him?"

"And if we were?!" the inquisitor roared back. He didn't have time to react as David brought up his rifle and shot the ground right next to him, causing Stygian to jump.

"Don't fucking try me, I've had enough shit tonight to last me a month, now go find your leader or whatever, and bring them downstairs." The inquisitor was just about to respond when David and his pet turned and exited the room. The assembled guardsmen and scions turned to him, the kriegers almost certainly smiling under their helmets.

"What are you looking at? Tenebrae, let's go to this 'meeting' and find out what's going on." He snorted, marching off to the gunship pad with his scions and Krieg allies in tow.

…

About 15 minutes later (because apparently the different armies had sooo much to do) we were all at the dining table. Well, most were on said table, but close enough. Kate and I sat on one side of the table, with all the leaders forming a semi-circle around us. There were at least a dozen of them, plus various aides and what not. Most were pointing weapons at one another, but a few were more restrained, talking in hushed tones while casting glances up at me and my girlfriend. With what appeared to be everyone (or at least the most I could deal with) I decided to begin. And when I say me I mean Kate.

"Ok, is this everyone?" there was murmuring before nods and replies to the affirmative. "Let's begin then, who are you?" That was probably the worst thing she could have said, since they all immediately assumed she was referring to them personally. They all started to go on about some useless bullshit, all at once, creating a constant din of slowly rising voices as they each tried to tell their own story above everyone else's.

"Shut up! One at a time" I yelled. They all stopped, most assuming that me being pissed meant me grabbing rifle. They were correct.

"Ok, let's start with you guys" Kate pointed to the most human looking group. Among them were mostly soldiers of various high ranks, and a few other oddities, like that mechanical squid looking guy. They all looked at each other, trying to decide who should start. After a few words and threats I guess they figured out their order.

The first guy to step forward was a typical army soldier, with a long khaki coat, cargo pants underneath but with a few black armour plates on his shoulder and body. Medals regimented across his chest denoting his various services and a nice looking maroon hat, one that reminded me of the British Special Forces. He had a pistol of unknown make on his hip along with a few grenades with a shiny, gold plated sheath for a sword to top it all off.

"My name is Julius Alexander, General of the 110th and overall commander of the Imperial Guard contingent in Novissime" His voice was established and spoke loudly with ease demonstrating an ability with talking aloud. I pencilled this down in my note book, slowly repeating the words as I wrote them. I nodded and gestured for the next.

This one wore a grey trench coat the covered most of his body. What I could see of his body was covered in a skeleton stylised armour plate. His head was covered by a gas mask and he wore an old German WWI style picklhaulbe on top. Ornate shoulder boards completed his very 1914 get up.

"I am Quartermaster Tenebrae of the 657th Krieg Siege army, and I am here to offer siege and trench warfare support to the Imperial forces in Novissime" He spoke grimly, as if he had seen things many would rather un-see. Kate waited till I was done noting it down and nodded to the next.

The women who stop forward was different to the others. She looked less like a soldier and more like a pilot. Her uniform was mostly tan jump suit with the occasional olive green plat for her knees, shoulders and torso. Unlike the previous two, she was not wearing a helmet and instead had her raven black here tied up in a knot behind her head. She had what looked like an assault rifle slung across her shoulder and a jet pack looking thing on her back.

"Marshall Cynthia of the 68th Elysian, at your service" she did a slight curtsey "I am responsible for airborne operations and infantry support to the Imperial navy in Novissime". Her voice was strong and determined, possibly the victim of sexual marginalization, judging by the gender of most of her peers. Next.

A slightly shorter man stepped forward. He was wearing a pressed navy blue uniform but unlike the others, wore next to no armour plating. Though he was carrying an ornate sword and pistol, he had clearly not seen combat often.

"My name is Admiral Talser of the 1026th Navy air wing, I represent the air support for the Imperial Forces in Novissime". He spoke with the arrogance of a noble born, but it wavered slightly, possibly because of some of his more experienced colleagues. Kate pointed to the next one.

This next guy wore a black trench coat with red trim. Underneath he had armour that was sparsely populated by medals and emblems. His hat was incredibly large, comparable to the old Soviet ones, except instead of a Hammer and Sickle he had a double headed eagle. He was pointing his pistol at another one of the groups and once he realised I was talking to him he slipped it underneath his coat and into his holster.

"Lord Commissar Carter, I am here along with the rest of the commissariat to ensure discipline and loyalty amongst the various Imperial Guard regiments." His voice was clipped, and I could tell he was a career soldier with a long history. I looked to the next one.

The figure that stepped forward was draped in a deep purple robe that had a variety of sigils embroidered on it. She peered up at me through her hood. I couldn't see under the lip of the fabric, but her left cheek was tattooed with another one of those double headed eagles, and she seemed to have a well-rounded, soft face.

 _Greetings, David,_ I jumped back in my seat, she didn't speak aloud, she spoke into my MIND. _Indeed, my name is Sasha, Astropath for the Imperial forces, responsible for long range communication and currently the most experienced non-Astartes psyker._

Ok. Ok. Um.

"Next?" I asked, and Kate looked at me funny, clearly the 'Astropath' didn't speak to her.

…

I raised an eyebrow at David, and he simply shrugged, so I turned back to the collection of soldier arrayed in our table.

A very different person from the previous five stepped forward. He towered over the rest and wore large plates of blue armour. The armour was trimmed with green and sported the upside down omega symbol on his right shoulder plate. He had what looked like a Sub-machine gun slung over his shoulder and a large sword in scabbard on his belt.

"Uriel Ventris, Captain of the Ultramarines 4th company" he stated, clipped and professional. He offered nothing else, so I nodded to the next one.

This one wore an even bulkier version of armour than the Ventris. It was entirely red and covered in little white strips of paper bar from the head area, which pulsed a turquoise blue in time to an unheard beat. He carried a metal engraved staff of unknown make in one hand and a double barrelled pistol in the other.

"Greetings, I am Brother Librarian Marcus of the Blood Angels 3rd company, my brothers and I are here to support the Imperium with anti-Ork specialists"

"Orcs?" David asked.

"Yes, Big, green, hulking, Xeno beasts, you know of them?" The librarian asked, a flicker of interest crossing his face.

"Uh, no. different ones"

"There are other Ork types?" General Alexander spat.

"Well technically there are multiple orkoid species, all of which have vari…" The mechanical squid began in his grinding voice before the General shot a look at him.

"Shut up, cog boy"

"Okaaaay, who's next" I said, trying to move things along before they start shooting again.

And by they, I mean David.

Another armoured figure stepped forward. This one had dark green plates similar in size to Ventris, but he was draped in a long khaki cloak, masking much of the armour from view, but the general outline of weapons could be seen from under it.

"I am Interrogator Chaplain Corish of the Dark Angels space marine chapter, I serve as part of the Adeptus Astartes detachment in the Novissime system" He spoke aloft, like he was thinking of something else. I decided it wasn't worth investigating further, judging by his title, so I decided to move to the squid mech guy.

He was draped in his classic red robes and had four mechanical tentacle protruding from his back. His face was nearly entirely replaced by robotics bare from a small patch of pale skin around his eyes and nose. He creeped me out even more than some of those armoured fellows, because at least they looked human underneath their helmets.

"I am Magos Orion of the Adeptus Mechanicus, I was formally monitoring the Start of Novissime before we were transported here" His voice was amplified by one of his various implants, and his grinding voice hurt my hears. Luckily he had nothing else to say so David pointed to the next one.

This time a woman encased in armour similar to those before her stepped forward. Hers was entirely white with golden trim, making her appear pure and almost holy amongst her grim and bloodied comrades. Her hair was died a snow white and her face was unmarked, further making here seem pure by comparison. She was cradling what looked like a flamethrower but had equally deadly looking blades hanging from her hip.

"I am Canoness Vanessa of the Sisters of the Emperors Spire, we are the pure flame which Novissime will burn by" Her voice was firm and unwavering, and the enthusiasm in her voice immediately marked her out as a fanatic. I waited until David had noted this down and looked to the next one.

Yet another one of those space marine guys came forth, he was encased in a grey armour that had various sigils etched into it. He carried a large halberd and machine guns strapped to his wrist. Even his helmet was akin to the ones the knights of old wore.

"My name is Justicar Aurelius, leader of the Grey Knight contingent here in Novissime. We are here to destroy the taint of daemons wherever they may lie" He spoke with a righteous voice one could hear from a mile away. Even if he was just 3 inches tall. We finally came to the end of the human (sort-of-not-really) group as the last guy stepped forward.

This one was dressed in all black armour that was covered in gold etchings of unknown origin. He was quite tall, but at least another foot shorter than those space marine guys. He had a set of sword and pistol on his hip, which at this point was pretty standard with these guys.

"Inquisitor Stygian of the Ordo Malleus, here to clear taint wherever I see it. By any means necessary" His tone was overtly hostile, and seemed to be having a mini stare down with David (which will likely lead to more fucking gun fire) so asked an obvious, de-escalating question.

"Are you guys, uh, all the same? Like, are you all human?" there were a few snorts and chuckles, but eventually the Justicar stepped forward.

"We aren't all human as you would see it. Some of us, like my brothers and I, are Space Marines. Descendants of the Emperor and genetically modified super soldiers. The others," he pointed to the more army men style guys "are human in the conventional sense, far more numerous but far less powerful individually" This provoked a torrent of responses from the 'conventional humans', so I decided that was the least biased answer I could get and turned to the other two groups.

Both of them combined were smaller than the human contingent, and they stood noticeably apart from one another. Some were very amused with the interaction between me and the human factions, others stayed composed and had an almost permanent scowl on their face.

"Alright, who were you guys again?" I pointed at the red and black clad soldiers. One of the lead ones stepped forward and took off his helmet. And they were…Elves? The man who stepped forward looked very human, but with finer features and the classic elf ears protruding from underneath his jet black hair. As he stopped he leant on the stupidly large lance he was carrying.

"We, as we have told you previously," I rolled my eyes before he continued "are the Eldar of Craftworld Siam-Hann. I am Autarch Phasmatis, leader of this war host and in system to hunt the Necrons of the Alkahem Dynasty."

"I see, your friend?" I asked gesturing to his partner. When they stepped forward, it became clear from her frame and armour that she was female. Unlike her friend, though, she did not take of her helm.

"My name is Farseer Grace, a light that guides my people along our path, unfortunately this path was not the one intended" I noticed her voice catch at the end.

"Right, and you?" I pointed to the last group, or guy, since there was only one. They were clad in a golden armoured mecha suit decked with an entire arsenal of weapons stuck onto every spare patch of his armour. He looked like one of those giant robots from Japanese animie series.

"Greetings Gue'vesa, I am Shas'O Au'rum Or'es, I believe it would translate to commander Forethought in your low gothic" he announced over his speakers. "I represent the Fire Caste of the Tau Empire. His accent was very oriental, which was strange considering this guy wasn't human. "With me is Ethereal Aun'la Shi and Shaper Kornark, but they are currently tending to the rest of the tau force and could not be in attendance" I noted down mentally that he was the only one to mention people not in attendance.

"That's everyone" I announced, looking around the table. Naturally, I decided to ask yet another stupid question "how did you guys get here?"

…

My god Kate, why?

Yet again they started yelling, pointing at each other and what not, and forcing me to slam my fist on the table.

"ALRIGHT, don't all talk at once, ONE of you tell us what happened, and ONE person may interject at a time. Failure to comply will result in a large cartridge to the face. Understand?" They nodded, all of them understanding the power of my rifle. Thus Alexander stepped forward to begin the story.

"Around 4 weeks ago my regiment, the 110th Cadian, was cycled through on garrison duty to the Novissime Sector. The system was a frontier system, under constant threat from the expanding Tau." he sneered at Forethought before continuing. "It was supposed to be a standard 3 month deployment before munitorum would re direct us to somewhere else. Little did we know that an Ork Waaaaaaaagh was on its way" At this point Marcus picked up.

"The Orks landed on the third planet, demolishing the local Planetary Defence Force and quickly besieging the capitol. The ferocious nature of this Waaaaaaaagh lead to the deployment of the Blood Angels 3rd company. My brothers and I were enough to stem the tide from taking the city and its space port, effectively isolating the green skins on the planet"

Tenebrae interjected from here "The Imperium planned to roll back the Orks through a sustained war of attrition, thus the 567th was sent in to help push back the green skin hordes. The campaign was going well once we besieged the Ork workshops in the jungle, but the Orks were the least of our worries"

"At this point the Alkahem dynasties tombs on the 5th planet began awakening" Phasmatis stated "The Imperials were distracted with the Orks so we decided to step in in order to destroy the tombs before a sizable force could come about. A full war host was deployed and things were going according to plan, but then the Mon-Keigh 'sent their finest'" he said that last part with a sneer.

"What the Xeno means is that the Ultramarines 4th company landed on the 5th planet to stem the rise of Xeno activity, forcing us to engage both the Eldar bikes and the Necron phalanxes. Many brothers were lost in the ensuing campaign…"

"Meanwhile, a heretical uprising began on the 2nd planet" Vanessa interjected "the lower tiers of the capitol revolted against arbite control and our sisters placed in the local covenant sent our support to supress the cults of chaos erupting across the planet" The Inquisitor decided his voice was now required

"Naturally, the cults grew in power that daemons started to pour in, a trickle at first but eventually enough to warrant the attention of the Ordo Malleus, thus my Retinue, the Brothers of the Grey Knight Chapter and I were deployed to combat the rising tide of corruption"

"While this was occurring the tau Empire had marked the system for immediate expansion" Forethought began "We focused our efforts on the fourth planet, attempting to take the advanced manufactories for ourselves. Resistance was initially minimal…"

"But then the Navy sent us, the 68th" Cynthia announced proudly "to counter the hit and run style of the hunter cadres, our efforts were enough to maintain the imperial foothold on the planet, and more reinforcements were in route to the planet to help us push back the Tau"

"However" Talser picked up "Dark Eldar raids hindered our landing ships, and even took an entire freighter from us. The sudden appearance of the pirates caused a reshuffling in our order of battle, with some elements of the 110th taken from the 3rd planet to replace the 68th who were then pulled back into space in order to combat the raiders"

"Clearly things were turning against us, so a battle company of the Dark Angels was redirected to the system" Corish said "Our forces straitened the lines of the Imperium, but worse was to come"

"A splinter hive fleet had reached the out skirts of the system, and had sent a few ships into the 3rd planet, turning the tide and forcing the Imperials back into the walls of the city" Carter spoke up "The Orks and Tyranids fought each other fiercely, but we knew that whoever won would come out far stronger than we originally anticipated"

"And to add to all of this" The grinding voice of Orion wrapped things up "The star that the system was orbiting was an infamous Warp Star. These Celestial bodies were stars that's nucleus was being eating into by a warp rift. This rift would eventually replace the nucleus entirely, and for a time it would suffice, but eventually the star would destabilize and supernova. We had never seen this happened before, as most previous examples were either in very early stages or past the supernova stage. The Novissime Star however was in the later stages, and the mechanicus was observing some of its properties before it quickly degraded and well…" he paused. "Exploded"

Everyone paused for a while. This was clearly not common knowledge. Some of the Humans glared at the Magos, while others simply shook their head, unable to believe it. The Eldar looked relatively amused.

"So that's what sent you here" I finished.

"Correct, within reasonable explanation"

"Magos!" The commissar un-holstered his pistol and took aim "Is this not something you should have told us?"

"We did not anticipate such a quick drop in conditions. And we could not have told the entire crusade force to simply pack up and leave, purely on observations. We needed proof, and once we get back…"

"Back?!" Vanessa responded "We have NO IDEA how to get back. Unless you have an active warp drive that can transcend dimensions, we are NOWHERE near leaving this place"

"Alright that's enough" I demanded "by the sounds of it you are, for the time being, stuck here" I let it sink in before I continued. "We could provide temporary accommodation" Kate tapped me on the shoulder and gave me a look of _really?_ In response I pointed outside, and the rain was really bucketing down now. She gave me an uncertain look before I gave her the, _I know what I'm doing_ look _._

She simply shook her head, _no you don't_

I pleaded with my eyes and she grudgingly accepted. No words were spoken, our connection was just that strong.

"Anyway, temporary accommodation" I got up. "If you all follow me I'll show you the rooms"

 **So yeah, this chapter is a bit boring, next one I'll try make funnier and/or more action packed.**

 **It should be mentioned that this chapter contains several hints to what will happen in the next story arc and beyond. But that's at least 4 chapters away, maybe more.**

 **Remember, More Reviews = More Chapters, faster**


	4. The Morning After

**Glad I'm getting tonnes of positive reviews on this, great to see people like the story as much as I do**

 **Again any reviews that aren't guest ones I'll reply to personally through PM**

 **Thanks to KunnegAndris and LordGhostStriker for some of the ideas in this chapter**

 **Thought for the Day: "** _No world shall be beyond my rule; no enemy shall be beyond my wrath"_ – God-Emperor of Mankind

++Terra, Sol System, Sol Sector, Solar Segmentum++

++015.M3, 08:23, GMT +12++

I woke with a start. Looking around the room, I started to feel hopeful it was all a dream. Wait, oh, there's the whole that the tank bore through my door.

Fuck, it was real.

Sighing loudly, I turned to the side, only to see that Kate was already awake and out of bed. So, with great effort, I hauled myself out of bed, got dressed and exited the bedroom.

++015.M3, 01:12, GMT +12, the previous night++

"This is most inadequate" General Alexander turned and looked up at me from his little command tank thing. Because he was so far down, I had to crouch down and ask him to repeat. He did so with annoyance.

"Well, you guys didn't choose any of the other rooms" I said "Besides, this room is probably the largest we have on offer". I gestured around the empty expanse of the second spare bedroom. It was large enough, about 6 meters by 5 meters, with a window overlooking the east face of the house. The Imperial Guard obviously were not pleased. They had 3 regiments to fit in, all with around 1,500 soldiers each, give or take a few dozen. Kate had already sneaked off to bed after we allocated the Space Marines in the first spare room, forcing me to try and be diplomatic with these annoying fuckers by myself.

"The room we arrived in was plenty large"

"That was the living room, and no, if anyone showed up they would see you through the window and freak out. This is your quarters for now, get over it"

"But…" He began.

"No buts, get your men inside before I decide that outside is a more acceptable location for you lot"

"How do you suppose we accommodate our men? This may as well be a desolate expanse for us, surely you could spare us materials"

"Actually…" I stepped over to the wardrobe and opened it up. Sure enough, three huge boxes of lego pieces were there, piled up for when relatives come to stay. I pulled one out and brought it over to the Guard contingent.

"This might work" I said, wrenching off the top and helping the general up to look inside.

He smiled, the first time since I meet him "this is truly a large collection of plasteel blocks," he considered this for a moment. "Very well, we accept your proposition"

I sighed with relief and bid him and his men farewell.

++015.M3, 08:29, GMT+12++

The Guard had spent the early hours of the morning turning their quarters into a huge battle base. Lines and lines of interlocking steel fortifications, trenches and redoubts littered the floor, soldiers manning the lines with an array of small arm weapons. Behind them, stood four large (by comparison of course) towers and a few landing pads that hosted gunships with gull wings and twin boom tails. In amongst these were huge gun emplacements, each looking as if it could take a chunk out of my leg if it fired.

Luckily for me, the Guard were the faction most scared of my .303 rifle

On the far wall underneath the window, a massive lego complex was being erected. It was simply huge, 2 meters wide and currently 30 centimetres in height. Crane tanks trundled around it, hauling various lego pieces up to the red robed mechanicus personnel who guided them in place and locked them down before moving onto the next. It was actually quite something to behold.

In the far corner, a motor pool had built up, which covered a large area thanks to these guys' love of armoured vehicles. I noticed one of the gunships lift off to meet me and I leant against the wall as it landed on the table next to the door (strategically placed by me the previous night). Cynthia and a few of her Elysians hoped out and marched over before snapping to attention just before the edge.

"Greetings, Governor David" she and the other Guardsmen had come to address me as such, since this was 'my world'.

Yeah, I wish

"Marshall" I nodded respectively to her "things going well?"

She sighed "As well as things like this go. It's a logistical nightmare trying to organise 4,500 sleeping quarters, and while the adepts are making good progress, I fear we may not be done before sleep overcomes our soldiers"

I nodded, from my experience logistics and the bureaucratic nightmare that came with it made up about 75% of war fighting.

"Other than that?"

"The obvious problems that come with a 2:1 ratio of all male to all female regiments"

"Your entire regiment is female?" I asked.

"Indeed, and with that comes the constant need for discipline ensured by the commissariat" She paused for a second before continuing "I don't suppose food is abundant here?"

Oh. Right. They eat.

"Uh… yeah, in comparison. Lemme go talk to Kate first"

"Your female companion already informed us she was leaving to 'go to work'. I did not think a governor's courter had to hold an occupation"

I smiled "Yeah she's quite something. Don't you have rations at the ready anyway?"

"We did, but they have been cut in half, not everything came with us through the warp rift"

"Alright, I'll check with on the others, and then we'll have a meeting for food supplies"

"Much obliged David, May the Emperor bless your travels"

…

"Well that depends on their angle of attack, an Ariel assault will go straight over them" Ventris replied.

"Any defence is better than no defence" Corish pointed out. The two marines were arguing on how to best array their defences.

The Space Marines had just over 250 marines from 3 different chapters spread across the '1st spare bedroom' as David called it. The room, unlike the second room, had a bed in the centre, and a large duchess table on the wall opposite. This was where the collective fortress monastery of the 3 Space Marine chapters was located, a few tarantula bolter turrets set up on key points and various Chapel Barracks buildings set up around it. A smaller motor pool was parked around the base of the furniture piece, and a few marines were performing live fire drills on the bed.

"If we moved stalkers up to this position" Ventris pointed at the position on the holomap that represented the bottom left post of the bed "we could contest any air attack that would come"

"We cannot sacrifice our stalkers here, we must cover the window from this location" Corish gestured at the holomap piece that represented the windowsill. Ventris was just about to counter the Dark Angel's comment when David walked in.

"Ah, the giant is here" Ventris sneered. David took this as greeting.

"Hello to you too" David's face tightened in a polite smile. "You guys set up pretty fast"

"Yes, well, the Dark Angels supply cache was transported relatively intact, allowing us maximum efficiency in accommodating and arming our battle brothers" Corish responded.

"What about food, are you doing well in that department?"

"We can suffice on the stocked food paste in the interim, but substantial meals may be required soon"

"Alright I'll see what I can do" David replied before vacating the room. Ventris turned to the Dark Angel.

"Why don't we just kill him?"

"You eagerness to murder the giant will be the death of us, Uriel"

"We saw what the plasma destructor did to him, surely our other weapons will affect him as well"

"I would like to remind you, Brother-captain, that the plasma destructor was mounted on our only titan. We have little to no weapons left with that kind of firepower, and even then David carries a titan class cannon with him pretty much all the time. To draw our weapons on him now would be to invite death" The young captain sighed.

"Surely we cannot lower ourselves to this Xeno treachery"

"Ventris I recognise your experience in the Deathwatch has made you particularly abhorrent of the Xeno menace," Corish responded "but David is not a Xeno. After extensive trails by our apothecaries, Medicae personnel from the guard and Hospitaller personnel from the sisters, we have concluded that his DNA strain is perfectly human. No tarnishing of Daemon corruption, augmentation or any other vial concoctions, he is pure blooded Terran."

"Maybe you are right, but his tolerance towards the other Xenos is undeniable"

"Should the time come" The Interrogator Chaplin assured "We will stand and fight, together" the Space Marine clapped his hand on Ventris' shoulder.

"As the Emperor wills it"

"His will be done"

…

I quickly descended the stairs, trying hard not to get fortifications stabbed into my foot, and rounded the corner into the living room. The Room appeared to be where the various factions had arrived, and the scars showed. The corner where TV was located had bullet holes and explosion marks surrounding it (Though, thankfully, the TV itself was undamaged). The Couches which were angled towards it had been torn up and dirtied by the clash between the large walker things. The door into my study had been stabbed straight through by the Eldars 'wraithknight' and also had tonnes of bullet holes in it, mostly because that's where I had taken the Titan out from.

The Eldar were inside said study, and had transformed it into a sort of white washed city. My study bench (or former study bench) was littered with skeletal looking structures that glowed with an eldritch light. At the centre of this apparent city was a large sickle like stricture that had a flickering white light in the middle. Most of the Eldar hover tanks were rested on the edge of the table while their various 'wraithlords' stood sentinel. Phasmatis was overlooking some other Eldar singing at a white structure that was slowly taking form when he saw me. Excusing himself from the group, he wondered over to the edge closest to where I was standing.

"Yes?" He asked in an annoyed tone

The Eldar were like this. While not overtly aggressive like the Space Marines and Inquisition, they clearly despised me, and made no attempt to hide it.

"Oh, I was just wondering how you were going"

"We are doing fine" he sighed, before gesturing me to leave. I shrugged and turned to leave before another voice spoke up.

"Tell Him the truth Phasmatis" Grace urged, strolling over to where the Autarch stood.

"He wouldn't understand" He sneered. "If you wish for him to know of our current situation, tell him yourself" With that, the lord stormed off. It was actually quite funny, a proud warrior of an infinitely ancient race running away like 3 year old.

 _He does that often._ Grace, like Sasha and the other psykers, could talk directly into my mind and read it with the ease of which I would read a book.

"Makes me wonder why he leads your people"

 _Technically, he does not, but his battle experience is far beyond my own._ She sighed, taking off her healm. This was the first time I had seen the Farseer without her helmet on, and it struck me how beautiful she was. Her long red hair framed her porcelain face perfectly, and she could pass as a human super model if it weren't for her ears protruding from underneath her hair.

I gathered myself from the shock of the unmasked alien before continuing "You were saying things were not good?"

She nodded solemnly "Indeed. You see, unlike your Mon-Keigh friends in the Imperium," My jaw tightened at her description of humans, but I held my tongue "We Eldar do not rely on Warp drives on huge starships to move about the galaxy, we use Webway portals" She gestured at the flickering sickle structure. "This helps us move much quicker and more efficiently than the other barbarian races. With this, we reasoned we could return to the Craftworld. Unfortunately, we cannot establish any link with the Webway hallways. We are, for the first time, fully cut off from our home" Grace's voice caught at the end.

The weight of such a statement was such that I couldn't say anything without paying proper respect to the Farseer's obvious distress. I waited a while before continuing.

"Well, I'm sorry. I know I don't understand fully, but the idea of never seeing home is one I am all too familiar with. Look, I will be holding a meeting in a while in regards to food, you don't have to attend, but if food is of concern, I suggest you do" It was at this point I realised something I should have realised when I first walked in.

"Where's my computer?"

…

"Adept, please apply pressure to the 'Alt' Key" The Magos gestured and one of the other tech priests walked the perimeter of the key board towards the Alt key. Extending his servo arm, he performed the act admirably.

"Excellent, now, I shall press the CTRL button and you," he pointed at another adept "press the Del key" the other priest complied and the screen changed. The Text 'Welcome' was displayed.

"It talks! The machine spirit has answered our calls, quickly, get the required machine oils in order to ensure its continued cooperation!" The excited gabble of tech priest started rushing around, taking rags and oil over to the Magos.

"Magos, its display has changed!" one of the tech priests called over its vox repeater. Sure enough, the computers display had changed to a desktop. Various icons lined the right edge, an image of David and Kate together on the SkyTower provided the backdrop.

"What must we do now, Magos?" another adept asked.

"Clearly, it requires another ritual of starting, apply the oils to the keys" he announced, and adepts flooded the board with their vials of holy oil. Before they could be applied, David found them.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH MY COMPUTER!" he demanded.

"We are simply performing the required start up rituals…" The Magos began. An error box popped up on the display, causing the mechanicus personnel to recoil in fear. "See! It requires our immediate attention, its machine spirit is displeased"

"No you idiots, it's my computer, it doesn't have a 'machine spirit', now leave it alone!"

"David we must perform the rituals!" the magos urged, attempting to hug his body as close as he could to the machine.

"No, get off of it, or must I fetch my cooperation cannon?" The mechanicus adepts trembled at the mention of the dreaded titan killer weapon. Grudgingly, the adepts vacated the laptops keyboard. As soon as they were all off, David snatched the laptop off the table and walked off without so much as a thank you.

…

When I think of a Science fiction future, the Tau are the closest to what comes to mind. Mecha-suited armies, drones doing all the menial tasks and everyone moving around in hover vehicles. Quite different to the Imperium. The Tau had turned the dining room into their home. The Tau were the second largest faction, with nearly 1,200 active personnel, along with drones. The table was where the Tau had set up their primary headquarters, their unique way of building turning it into a sci-fi city.

The Tau built large dome like structures, less angular than the imperials yet more built up than the Eldar. They had set up drone outposts along the edge of the table, and most of their vehicles were parked close to a large beacon like structure. The Soldiers, Fire Warriors as they called them, were scattered about in groups of 8, all appeared to be enjoying a meal together. As I approached, forethought and his battlesuit retinue jumped over using their jet packs.

"Greetings, Gue'la David" Forethought announced over his suit's speakers. Well it's about time one of these arrogant bastards addressed me properly.

"Hello Forethought" I replied "How are things going, you guys look pretty set up here"

"Indeed. Through the strength of our Earth caste has allowed us to set up with maximum efficiency"

"Right, what about food?"

"For the time being, we will suffice in our stocked rations. But if we are here as long as we fear, we may need more"

"Mmm, I will hold a meeting in the kitchen soon to discuss food supplies. Other than that everything good?" I asked

"Everything is operating satisfactorily, yes, thank you for your concern David

"No problem, see you soon"

…

The Inquisition did not have a permanent headquarters as such, it's various elements deployed amongst the other Imperial Factions. That is all except the Sisters of battle, who were located in the theatre room, which branched off the living room opposite the dining room. The Sisters numbered just over 95 active soldiers and were by far the smallest of the factions independently housed factions.

They had constructed a large chapel on the table in front of the couches, and maintained watch with a few flame turrets and sisters. Their motor pool was also the smallest, with about 14 vehicles and a few walkers, which looked absolutely painful for the driver (I would later learn that they were being driven by sisters seeking penitence. Jesus there are better ways to do that than wiring yourself into a giant mech that's only purpose is to get its pilot killed). The sisters were totally dedicated to this 'god-emperor' chap, even more so than the other Imperials. The chapel they had was around 40cm high and 70cm long, honestly I have no idea where they got the materials for it, but it was impressive none the less. I noticed a small group were in prayer out the front so I approached them and crouched down, patiently waiting for them to finish.

"I was not aware you would be joining us in prayer" Vanessa said once she and her sisters were done. I looked down and realised I was crouched in a very prayer like position.

"Oh I was just…"

"It is quite alright" She chuckled "it's hard for those of pure purpose to ignore the Emperors worship"

"Yeeeaaaa" I nodded, not really feeling up to arguing with the fanatical zealot right now "I'm just checking up on everyone, you girls all good?"

"We are doing well for the time being, yes"

"What about food?"

"The Emperor, benevolent in his ways, has granted us a large amount of our original rations to be transported with us"

"Ok then, I was planning to hold a, meeting for rations later on, your welcome to join should you deem it necessary"

"We shall consider the proposition, David"

"Excellent, see you then"

…

Finally, I ended up in the kitchen. All this running around checking on everyone was making me really, really hungry. After making myself some breakfast and pouring a cup of coffee for myself, I made my way to the TV. Despite the Couches having scorch marks all over them, they were relatively intact, and by some miracle the TV was not hit once (well there were a few glancing shot on the edge and a couple of chips on the screen, but other than that). The News was on, and said news was broadcasting the election polls.

"I am confused David, what is this 'election'?"

"AHH! Oh, Jesus Christ Commissar don't you ever knock?" Carter looked around, trying to figure out what he was supposed to knock on.

"I was not aware there was a door"

"Ugh, the election?" I said, trying to pull the attention back to his original question.

"Yes, what is a 'Labour Party'?"

"Well, every 3 years we hold elections, these elections will decide who will lead the country for the following 3 years. This means that there can be different leaders every 3 years, along with different parties and policies"

"You would usurp your planetary governor willingly?!" He replied, shocked "Why… I've never heard of something so vile!"

"What? No, there's no planetary governor…"

"No planetary governor?" Stygian Asked from my left, causing me to jump and nearly squash the commissar.

"Yeah, we have different countries here, you're in New Zealand right now, but there are others like Russia, America, China, France, England …"

"Different countries!" the Inquisitor was now just as shocked as the commissar "I had read of these, vile techno-barbarian nation-states fighting each other until the light of the emperor united them all"

"Not really fighting…"

"We must declare a crusade to unite this world under the rule of the Emperor" Vanessa announced from the coffee table. There was now a large group of imperials gathered, and they all concurred with the Sisters statement.

"NO! No crusading! You're all staying right here" There was a collective 'awww' emitted from the gathering. I turned my attention back to the TV, while the gathered imperials either left or continued watching the news, grumbling to themselves something about heresy and exterminatus.

…

"Hmm, this is certainly very filling" Alexander nodded with content. The small group of representatives were gathered on the bench that connected the Living room and Kitchen. David had placed a large bowl of 'rice' in front of the gathered leaders and they were now sampling the strange terran meal.

"Slightly bland, don't you think?" Phasmatis grumbled.

"Well it does lack seasoning, but this is probably the easiest thing we can get our hands on that will feed you all" David responded as her brought over another bowl.

"It does beat nutrient bars" Marcus shuddered.

"How typical of you Mon-Keigh to be content with such rudimentary meals" The Autarch sneered. Marcus stood to face him

"Would you better provide for us?!" he demanded

"Ha, I would rather your feeble forms starved" the Eldar sneered back. Marcus' force staff leapt into his hand and before anyone could react a smashed Phasmatis around the head, knocking him out cold.

"Pathetic"

"Fucks sake Marcus" David slammed his hand down right next to the Librarian. "Fix him"

"He's fine"

David looked at the Xeno, whose head was now bleeding from a wound under his hair. "I don't care, fix him"

"How! I don't anything about his physiology. Not that I am obliged to anyway"

"You better believe you are, I don't need another war breaking out already, fix him up soon or so help me I'll crush you into pulp without so much as a second thought"

"You wouldn't dare"

"Wouldn't I?"

"Alright that's enough!" Grace stepped in between them. "I'll take him to our healers, but don't expect any assistance from our quarter In the future, space marine"

"Not that I would need it" he spat. The Eldar quickly disappeared in their Falcon hover tank, and it was just the Imperials and Tau left.

"We sure showed them" The general grinned, and all the Imperials were busy high fiving one another while David just held is head in his hands and sighed.

…

"Can you have these accounts done by the end of the weekend Kate?" I looked up and saw my superior dump a stuffed folder on my desk. Holding back an ' _ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME',_ I simply nodded, bit my tongue and went back to what I was doing. I glanced up at the clock.

5 minutes. Excellent.

I started closing down my desktop and pack my things into my bag. Sighing as I hefted the stupid workload into the bag, I zipped it up and made my way out of the firm. Just as I had hopped in the car and close the door I got a text.

 _Rice_ it was David

 _What for?_

 _The minis, best way to feed them_

 _We're FEEDING them now?_

 _Ye_

 _Why don't we just give them the deed to the house as well?_

 _Oh I hadn't thought of that, what a good idea_

 _Can you stop being sarcastic for even a little while_

 _Do I need to answer that question?_

 _Alright, fine, I'll get the stupid rice_

…

"David, this vehicle pleases me, I find it very amusing" The Dreadnought called out in a monotone voice. I had decided to start playing some Halo 4, and a few minutes later I had three teams of minis on either side of me, trying to grapple with the controller. The Dreadnought and the space marine team had just climbed in the Mantis assault walker and now proceeded to gun everyone down, because the game is so broken you can win with the mantis in seconds.

"Arrrgh! What is this Xeno technology?" Tenebrae called from the right analogue stick, the IG team were trying to use a storm rifle by holding the trigger down. It overheated and I shot them through the head with my DMR.

"Emperor-dammit! Where are these infernal shot coming from?!" the commissar demanded from the left trigger.

"You clearly aren't perceptive enough" Forethought chuckled from his controller's d-pad before I took him out as well.

"Irony" I mused. He started hissing in his own tongue at the other battlesuits on his controller.

"What the hell, really?" I rolled my eyes as my avatar was tossed all over the place by a flurry of missiles

"Sorry about that, my arm must have slipped" Ventris grinned, quickly depressing the left trigger.

"I'll get you for that"

"I am truly sorry for my brother's mistake, David" The dreadnought called quickly, before I boarded the mantis and destroyed it with a few melee attacks

"We had an understanding David" the dreadnought almost moped. I grinned before the lights suddenly dimmed and the TV shut off.

"I swear to god these fucking tech-priests" I sighed, standing and moving towards the garage. Upon entering I found the tech-priests clambering across the circuit board

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"David, thank god, one of our adepts displeased the machine spirit and the power turned off, we are currently organising a ritual to turn it back…" he started droning on in his grinding voice while I simple leant over and flipped the mains switch back on.

"Oh"

"Get out" I growled. The adepts made surprising speed in evacuating the garage, and I made a mental note to put a lock on this door. Clearly they knew how to open doors.

…

I grunted as I hauled the 20kg bag of rice out of the car and walked towards the door. Upon reaching it David opened up.

"Hey" he smiled, before looking down and realising I was carrying the bag of rice "lemme help you with that"

"There's two more" He raised an eyebrow "there was a sale" he nodded and went to collect our guests ration stock. I walked in and all the armies were gathered around the TV watching the news (apparently they were intrigued by the election) so I was able to make it to the kitchen counter unmolested. But I quickly found myself surrounded by various aircraft, all disgorging personnel to inspect the fruits of my trip

"Is this more of that 'rice' David gave us earlier?" Cynthia asked

"Indeed it is" I nodded at the female marshal.

"We won't starve after all" Talser mused.

"We wouldn't have this problem if you had replaced all of your internal organs with augments" Orion responded

"Quite cog boy" Cynthia gestured at the mechanicus adept and he nodded.

"Well" I said as David hauled the other two bags in "who's hungry?" A general call to the affirmative was heard and I started pulling out pots and pans.

"So… it's Friday night" David said from behind me. I stood and turned to him. He was nearly a foot taller than me, and it really showed when we were stood this close to one another in the confined kitchen.

"Perceptive of you" I smirked

"I try" he scratched the back of his head "You know, we normally… do things… on Friday"

"I would like to remind you the current situation isn't normal"

"Yea but…" I cut him off by kissing him on the cheek

"We'll see"

 **Remember: More Reviews = more chapters, faster**


	5. Culture Shock

**Great to see these positive reviews, I really do appreciate how much you guys like this story. And I have several excuses for the late update, one is practice exams (yeah, my school makes me do TWO SETS OF EXAMS A YEAR!), another is I was waiting for a beta reader, who still hasn't materialized. The final is me looking over this repeatedly for grammar errors.**

 **Oh and before I forget, head over to my Page and vote in the poll for the first antagonist faction. They will appear eventually, I don't know when to be honest. But they will be there. Promise.**

 **Anyway, enjoy this chapter**

 **Thought for the day:** _"As the Emperor protects, so must we"_ – Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt

++Terra, Sol System, Sol Sector, Solar Segmentum++

++015.M3, 08:32, GMT+12++

"How'd you all sleep?" I asked sheepishly

"Like an angel" Alexander rolled his eyes. It was Saturday morning, and as a special treat for the minis (in celebration for going an entire day without firing heavy ordnance) we were making pancakes. However most were not up yet, still asleep thanks to Kate and I's 'activities'.

"Really?"

"No, what the hell were you doing that provoked Miss Kate here to yell obscenities over and over again" Kate then turned the colour of the strawberries she was cutting.

"Uh, a very 'special' type of torture" I tried. Kate glared at me while the Inquisitor leant in.

"Go on"

"Let's not delve into details" Kate said quickly, further deepening the shade of red on her cheeks.

"Yeah, it's classified" I winked

"You know I am an inquisitor, and as an Inquisitor I demand you reveal your interrogation techniques"

"Are you all really that ignorant of what they were doing?" Cynthia asked, somewhat taken aghast. Most shrugged. Sighing, she stood up from the remote she was sitting on and brought all the Imperial guard commanders in. After a few hushed words the General laughed uproariously while the commissar tried as hard as he could to keep a straight face. Tenebrae was laughing so hard he must have used all of his oxygen in his tank and fell to the ground. He wrenched his mask off and gasped for air in between chuckles with his pale face.

Vanessa looked confused, as did Ventris and the Inquisitor.

"Yeeeeaaaaaah" I nodded. Kate was practically a tomato now, and I pulled her in for a hug

"You're not worried about what a bunch of dwarf soldiers think, are you?"

"No, I'm worried about how much my boyfriend is telling them" she pulled away from me and glared. I put my hands up in defence.

"Hey, they're drawing their own conclusions" It was at this moment Alexander gathered himself enough to clarify it to the power armoured soldiers. None were amuse.

"You….you heathens!" Vanessa screeched. "Committing acts such as those within the vicinity of my sisters, do you hold no hallowed ground?"

"You do realise that this is how people are made, right?" I raised an eyebrow.

"And were you trying to 'make people' last night?"

"No but…"

"I rest my case" She crossed her arms. "You are indulging in the very pleasures that fuel the dark prince" This comment made the mood darken significantly.

The Inquisitor snarled. The Imperial guard leaders simply scowled, in an attempt to make up for their bout of laughter. Ventris locked his gun and hefted it, expecting something to attack him at any moment. It wasn't until Grace stepped forward and voiced her opinion that the Imperials stopped plotting my immediate death.

"Incorrect" she stated.

"What would you know, Xeno?!" Vanessa snapped.

"A hell of a lot more than you" Grace responded quickly. "It was the hedonism of the Eldar Empire that led to the creation of Slaneesh. Based on the current time space we are in, the Eldar Empire has not reached such heights of excess and will not for at least another 20 millennia. Besides, whatever Kate and David were up to would be little more than a drop in the pool of excess created by other humans and Xenos across the galaxy" There was a long pause before the quartermaster spoke up.

"The Xeno may be right, but if you two…" he pointed at me and Kate again "Want to keep screwing each other loud enough to awaken the emperor, we will post artillery to watch over you"

The message was pretty clear.

…

After breakfast and further back and froe arguments over Kate and I's purity, I decided to see if these guys were a worldwide thing. Using the internet, I started with the one at the top of my list.

Space Marines.

' _About 9,930,000 results_ '

Oh yay, some light reading.

I opened the first link titled 'Space Marines-Lexicanum' and started reading.

…

"Do not try to kill the governor's beast of burden while you're at it" Commissar Carter mused while Tenebrae checked the sights for his Earthshaker. The quartermaster responded with the middle finger gesture. The Krieg 657th was preparing for live fire drills when lightning bounded out the door and started running around the backyard.

"Instead of just watching why not try move it back inside" The Kriegsman responded.

"I'm afraid if I try I will cave its head in with my power sword" The Commissar responded nonchalantly

"Oh aren't you a hero" Tenebrae sneered

"Well I wouldn't call myself one but if you insist"

"For fucks sake I'll do it" Cynthia responded, placing the rifle she was cleaning down and stood from leaning on the command salamander. Finally Carter stepped forward.

"I have experience in these things, marshal, let me do this" He was suddenly very serious

"I can handle myself" the Elysian responded. She was about to add something insulting when she stopped herself. Smirking, she instead replied "But maybe you are better at this kind of thing"

Tenebrae rolled his eyes while the Commissar beamed "Indeed, let me show you how it's done" he started down the back steps and strolled towards the dog, who was now rolling around in the backyard. The Commissar faltered a meter from the dog and looked back at the gun emplacements. Cynthia was watching with something that mocked compassion, while Tenebrae held his thumbs up from behind the blast shield. Carter gave a slight nod back to them and returned his attention to the dog.

He froze. Lightning was now lying down, facing the Lord Commissar. He paused for a few seconds before continuing.

"Good dog" Carter tried, stepping tentatively forward. The Airedale terrier started wagging his tale, making a soft thump each time it connected with the ground. The commissar un-holstered his pistol and raised it above his head. He fired off 5 shots in quick succession in an attempt to scare off the dog. Instead, this caused the dog to stop wagging and leap to his feet.

"RUN!" Tenebrae yelled. Not considering the Quartermasters proposal and its unfavourable consequences, the commissar turned tail and ran.

Unsurprisingly, the dog followed. It only had to take a few steps before it was upon the Lord Commissar. Before he could be swallowed whole though, a Tauros skidded out in front of the beast and blasted the terrier's face with a stream of promethium, causing it to yelp and retreat a few steps and nuzzle the ground in an attempt to smother the flames. The distraction allowed the commissar to board the assault vehicle and make his escape.

"Thanks" he said once he strapped himself into the passenger seat of the Tauros.

"I wasn't about to have you get yourself eaten by a giant dog just yet" Cynthia grinned. The two locked eyes for a brief moment before the trooper on the flamer spoke up.

"Uh, sirs? It's still chasing us" She reminded them.

…

"Uh, Kate, come here a second" I called when she passed me in the lounge. The Eldar were annoying to surf the web with, so I had sought shelter in the official neutral zone.

"What's up?" she asked, leaning over the back of the couch.

"These things, they're actually war gaming models"

"I wouldn't play a war game with them" she sneered

"No, not these specific ones, but look" I angled the screen up so she could see what I was looking at. The image was of a 28mm model of one of Ventris' marines, the tiny blue soldier holding a rifle and striking a pose of firing it. It was well painted, I must admit, but the similarity to Ventris' Ultramarines was unsettling.

"Well" she said eventually, staring at the image, then staring at a group of Ultramarines chatting on the arm of the couch. "The trim of the pauldron is different". She was right, the one on the screen had gold trim, not green.

"I don't think that excuses how similar they actually are" I pointed out. "They may as well be the same thing"

Kate considered this a moment, then looked at the collection of Space Marines on the couch arm "Hey, you guys, can you identify this?" She asked, turning the laptop to them. One of the marines leant forward and peered at the image.

"Ah, those are Sicarius' men, the Second company" He sneered. I noticed this and asked for clarification.

"Each Space Marine chapter, well. MOST Space Marine chapters are divided into 10 compani…"

"Yeah I read all that, just clarify, what's wrong with Sicarius' company? Aren't you in the same chapter?"

"We are, but that doesn't make us all buddies, bloody glory hogs the lot of them. Damnos, Black Reach, Graia, Armageddon, Halamar Rift, Zeist, Damnos again, Medusa V, Talassar, and those are just the ones Captain Sicarius was in command for. Name a war and you can bet the second company were there. Fighting by the book, never deviating from the general guideline set out by our Primarch" He spat. "Not only that, but he declares open enmity towards Captain Ventris for our 'doctrine deviation', which is of course what our Primarch wanted"

"Sounds like a lot of history"

"Not even the exalted 1st company has fought as many battles in as many years" the sergeant replied

"I see, I didn't quite catch your name"

"Pasanius Lysane, governor" He grinned

"Thank you, Pasanius" I nodded. I didn't quite except the long spiel of hatred towards their supposed brothers, but then again I suppose these Space Marines were human too, albeit extremely altered beyond human what most would consider human.

"Well" I turned back to Kate, who raised an eyebrow at me. "What do you think?"

"I don't think they come from another universe. Instead, I think they're just animated models that have functioning weaponry"

"So how did they get in here? We don't have any models of the sort"

"Why are these things here in the first place?" She responded, waving generally around her, nearly hitting an Imperial Valkyrie. "This whole situation is beyond reasonable explanation, we may as well just try and deal with it, unless you want to move them by force?" I touched my shoulder, still feeling the plasma wound healing over. The Eldar had applied some special ointment to the cut which had helped it heal faster, but did not alleviate the pain.

"Touché" I sighed. At that moment what looked like a hot wheels car skidded across the hard wood floor in the dining room and into the living room. Behind it came Lightning, running after the small car with intent to kill. Kate sighed and went over to the dog. She stood about a metre away from the couch, leaving a space between her legs. She allowed the mini car to speed through before bringing them together and making lightning hit her legs. Steadying herself on the back of the couch, she reached around and firmly gripped lightning's collar.

"No!" She said firmly "Leave them alone, understand?" Lightning was a smart dog, and whimpered slightly before sitting down in front of Kate. This was his way of saying he understood and my girlfriend nodded in approval.

"Thank you Miss Kate, I'm not sure what your beast of burden would have done if it had caught us" Commissar Carter called from the car.

"Don't mention it" She grinned and sent Lightning upstairs.

"So" I said leaning back "What are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to show them Star Wars" she grinned.

…

"Surely you know what we're going through" I tried.

"No I do not, nor do intend to" Vanessa replied from the table. I sighed and continued to search through the DVD cabinet in the theatre room for the elusive disc.

"Surely you girls have at least thought about it"

"Are you saying my sisters and I have impure thoughts, Miss Kate?"

"It's not impure, it's literally nature's way of continuing the blood line of humanity. Surely that's something you can get on board with"

The Sister considered this for a moment "That's true, but you were committing these acts in pursuit of pleasure, not the continuation of humanity"

I sighed and knelt down to the sister's level. She was quite beautiful, her features soft and her hair a pure white. Unlike pretty much every other mini, she had nothing marking her face, no scars or bionics. "I think it's time you realise that humans do this all the time. Well not all the time but we do it regularly. I guarantee you there is something like this going on in the Guard…"

"That's against regulations!"

"Regulations won't stop two hot and bothered soldiers who have just discovered new found freedom from getting together" I responded. "You girls had better lighten up, loosen up or shut up" The sisters were mostly quite from then on as I continued to rifle through the DVD cabinet.

"Ah ha!" I said, pulling out _Star Wars: A New Hope_ from the back "You guys will enjoy this"

"Oh I bet" Vanessa rolled her eyes "Does this mean you will bring the others in here?"

"Only those who want to watch it"

"So yes then?"

"Probably"

…

"How is she, Magos?" Xavier asked, gesturing to the _Emperors Fury_. Magos Orion sighed and leant on his Omnissiah axe. The damage David had dealt to the Titan was just too great. The Mechanicum had managed to get back into the garage but negotiated staying there after David bolted the Switch box closed. The garage now stunk of oils and incense as the mechanicum continued their holy work. They had laid the Titan out on the work bench face down for various adepts working laser cutters to clear and repair the Gatling blaster loader.

"Not good, unless we find more cermaite or plas-steel, I'm afraid its leg will be out of operation, but the blaster may be fixed"

"We are at a significant disadvantage while it remains damaged" The Princeps pointed out

"David seems content to leave us alone"

"I wasn't talking about David"

"The Xenos are kept on a leash just as we are, any kind of aggressive manoeuvre would be meet by David's cooperation cannon"

"Yes but…" the Princeps began, but David interrupted by opening the door and flooding the dark garage with light.

"You guys wanna culture shock?" He grinned.

"Depends, will there be new pieces of technology?" The Magos queried.

"You bet your mechanical ass there will be"

…

"There is little purpose to this game without one" The Dreadnought announced.

"Stop being a spoil sport" The Forethought called from his controller. The Minis had discovered titan fall, which was now the Dreadnoughts favourite game, except when it had to be a footslogging pilot. The Space Marine team was in just such a position. The other three teams, comprised of the Sisters, Tau and Eldar, were all in titans of their own, which greatly disappointed the Dreadnought. They were killed by the Eldar titan when the Dreadnought refused to move.

"What are you doing, Old One?!" Corish demanded.

"I cannot play without one of the great titan vehicles"

"If you actually fucking played properly we would get one!"

"That doesn't…" the dreadnought turned to the Dark Angel before David flicked off the TV.

"Hey! We were playing" Phasmatis pouted.

"That's too bad" David responded "You guys have been on long enough"

"It's only been a few hours" Forethought groaned.

"Tough, I've got something better for you"

…

"Ready for some Star Wars?" I asked excitedly, turning to the group of minis now arrayed across the three couches. Nearly everyone was there, gathered on the three couches in the theatre room. The Sisters had grudgingly accepted this arrangement, but reserved the centre coffee table for themselves. The other Imperials occupied two of the couches and there was certainly no species mixing. Hopefully watching this will defuse any kind of enmity that remains between the various factions.

Better than the war-torn future they keep describing, though.

My enthusiasm was met with a few grumbles and even a few cheers from the gathered factions, those these quickly died down as the title text _Star Wars_ appeared on the screen alongside the classic John Williams symposium. I quickly shuffled out of the way of the screen, closing the door gently on my way out

…

"Ah, a small freighter, by the looks of it" Talser mused as the _Tantive IV_ came into view.

"It appears to be using laser weapons, possibly Xenos" Ventris nodded. Then the Star destroyer slide over the camera.

"What kind of design is that?" Cynthia asked.

"Possibly Pre-strife human ships" Alexander pondered "judging by its angular design"

"It may be Tau, sooth edges and advanced plasma weaponry" Vanessa suggested, before looking at Forethought.

"I don't think so, the edges are too sharp for our designs"

"So what is it?" Tenebrae asked.

"Watch and learn" Grace sighed.

…

"Space Marines!" Carter called as the Stormtroopers boarded the _Tantive IV_.

"Bah, those aren't Astartes, look at their weapons, clearly some sort of Xeno tech" Marcus dismissed.

"Indeed, they are slaughtering these navy arms men, no true Space Marine would fire on humans unless they were disciples of the dark gods" Ventris concurred.

"Are you sure about that" Stygian queried.

"Do you ever shut up? Just watch the movie!" Cynthia urged.

…

"Is that some kind of power sword Luke is using?" Tenebrae asked as Ben Kenobi talked about lightsabres and the clone war.

"Not anything we've made" Magos Orion replied.

"Seems flimsy, probably couldn't stop a chainsword" Corish shrugged.

…

"What do you mean? The Green one obviously shot first!" Forethought gestured at the screen.

"What movie were you watching, Xeno! The human smuggler clearly fired before him" Alexander countered.

"Sister Vanessa, take it back a bit so we can re-watch the scene" Justicar Aurelius called.

"It isn't that big of a deal you guys, just leave it" She responded

"Please?" a sizable chunk of the gathered soldiers pleaded.

"Fine" She rewound the movie to the cantina scene. The shooting took place once more and still no one could decide who shot first.

"You could see quite clearly that Greedo shot first" the Tau commander reaffirmed.

"He might have a point" Commissar Carter nodded, stroking his chin "maybe if I saw it again…"

"Just move on, the human won, end of story" Phasmatis called. They then proceeded to rewind it 12 more time to reach a verdict that still deeply divided the gathered soldiers.

…

"Magos, I changed my mind about these 'lightsabres', start research immediately" Corish said as Ben Kenobi taught Luke how to parry laser bolts with the weapon.

"We shall start as soon as the move is over, Interrogator Chaplin" the tech priest responded.

"Excellent"

…

"How could that moon destroy a world with a single beam?" Stygian demanded "And so quick too"

"Some kind of heretical technology" Ventris dismissed.

"Useful though" the Inquisitor turned to one of his aides, a scrawny Administratum type who stood ready to record Stygian's every word "Could you note down to start fitting battleships with these weapons for more efficient exterminatus'?"

"My lord, I have an entire list of things you want me to acquire for you at this point"

"I don't care, put this one at the top, it's my new favourite"

The adept sighed and crossed out _Darth Vader mask_ , scribbling _Death star laser_ next to it in its place.

…

"These Space Marines are potentially the worst shots I have ever seen in my entire life" Carter mused, watching Luke and Leia swing over the gap with not a single shot from the Stormtroopers on an overhead balcony even coming close to hitting them. "I've shot Conscripts with better shooting than this"

"They are clearly not Astartes then, like I've been telling you this entire time" Ventris sighed.

"That doesn't change how similar they look" he grinned.

…

"How are they going?" I asked.

"I got out of there as fast as I could, that should shut them up for about 2 hours" David said, taking the deck chair opposite me.

"Hmph, peace and quiet for once" it had been only a few days since they arrived, but I was getting sick of their constant questioning, arguing and fighting. I stretched out across the chair and stared up at the night sky. Three meteors streaked across the sky.

"Lot of Shooting stars lately" I mused

"Yeah, I don't remember anyone saying anything about a meteor shower" David said, turning his attention to the stars. "Cool though"

I nodded, losing myself in the endless expanse of space. Were there really a bunch of bloodthirsty aliens gazing back at us, wanting nothing than to enslave and destroy our way of life? A few moments later the phone rang.

"I'll get it" I hauled myself off the deck chair and made my way inside. The deck connected the house through the dining room, which was thankfully where the phone was located, saving me a mad rush for the landline.

"Hello?"

"Kate? How are you darling?"

"Hey Mum! Good, good, how are you?"

"Oh we're doing great at the moment, your Father and I just booked tickets to Wellington"

"Oh cool, when are you guys coming down?"

"Tomorrow"

"Oh awes…" Then it hit me. The minis were still here. "T…tomorrow?

"Yes! Isn't that great?"

"Uh, yeah! Just wished you gave us some warning"

"Well we were going to a wedding this weekend in Wellington and we thought we'd stop by"

"Will you be staying?" I asked tentatively

"With you two? No, no, we have a hotel room at the Novotel downtown, we thought we'd stop by for lunch, is that ok?"

"Oh, uh, yeah! That's fine, see you then" I went to hang up.

"Wait! Kate, is something wrong? Is David ok?" My parents had a deep predisposition about returning soldiers and their tendency for domestic violence.

I mean, they weren't wrong, though the violence was never directed at me, or the dog.

"No, no, he's fine. We both are, no need to worry"

"Okay" She responded, unconvinced. "See you tomorrow"

"See ya" I hung up and walked back outside.

"Who was that?" David asked, still gazing up at the sky

"My parents, they're coming for a visit"

"Oh, when? We need time to move the minis into more suitable…"

"Tomorrow"

 **And that's a rap, yay, first chapter in a fortnight. Since I have to spend so long rereading these (even then I probably missed something), this may become the norm, unless a beta reader steps forward (hint hint).**

 **Regardless, More Reviews = More Chapters, faster**


	6. Expecting Company

**Thanks for voting in the polls everyone, Orks are miles in head right now. Expect them the chapter after next if nothing changes. The poll remains on my profile if you want to vote.**

 **Shout out to the guest who suggested a Rogue Trader for one of the factions. I've always wanted to introduce one, and after running a Rogue Trader RPG I only want to do it more. I plan to bring one in eventually, don't you worry.**

 **Thought for the day:** " _An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded_ " - Isador Akios

++Terra, Sol System, Solar Segmentum++

++015.M3, 21:27, GMT+12++

"Enjoy the movie?" I asked.

"How would you define enjoy?" Alexander asked, rubbing the back of his head. Many of the minis were also nursing wounds (bar from the Space Marines). They had assembled in good order on the kitchen bench after the movie finished.

"I presume he means how we liked the experience of viewing the film" Orion responded.

"Well then yes, the arguments that it spawned, not so much"

"Oh" I simply sighed. "Unfortunately I have more bad news"

"Fantastic" Phasmatis moaned. "What is this time?"

I turned to Kate and she sighed "My parents are coming"

We expected a reaction, but we didn't get one. We all just sat there, waiting for someone to say something. Finally Vanessa spoke up.

"So?"

"What do you mean 'So'?" I snapped.

"So what your parents are coming?" She clarified.

"They CANNOT see ANY of you" Kate responded.

"Why not? You two seemed pretty alright with us being here" Marcus pointed out

"You shot me!" I yelled.

"You're never going to let that go, are you? You got your payback. Besides, you've healed" he shrugged. I flicked him off the counter top, hearing his terminator armour bounce on the tiled floor below

"Anyway, it's not like we had much of a choice" I said, matter-of-factly "Kate's parents already don't like me…"

"I wouldn't say that" Kate interjected. I just looked at her blankly, then back at the minis.

"As I was saying, they don't like me. If they saw all of you here, they would somehow blame me"

"They just don't like how you were a soldier"

"Yeah right" I glanced over at her. "Better we keep you all hidden than risk you guys being seen"

"How do you suppose we do that?" Forethought asked.

"Seriously, all this futuristic mega technology and you can't figure out how to stay hidden?" Kate asked incredulously. The Tau considered this for a moment then nodded.

"I suppose we could use some stealth fields"

"Or Warp magic" Grace offered. I raised my eyebrow at her so she offered an explanation.

"Our Seers and I could cast some sigils and obscure the worst affected areas"

"How quick can you do this?" I asked.

"Give us a few hours and we'll be done" She promised.

"Sounds good, we'll talk more tomorrow. Get some rest, you'll need it" I stood and dismissed the session.

++015.M3, 08:35, GMT+12++

"At least we got sleep last night" Cynthia mused. Kate glared at the raven haired marshal. They had reconvened on the Kitchen bench the morning afterwards, and most of the minis were chomping away at breakfast while David and Kate enjoyed a cup of coffee.

"If you value standing on two legs I suggest you shut up"

"As you wish milady" She grinned and returned her attention back to the gathering.

"…thus, we should move the Tau and Sisters from where they are to other areas around the house" David was saying.

"Why!" Vanessa demanded.

"Where you are right now is a likely area for them to go to, I suggest we move the Sisters up to the Guard's basilica and Tau into the study with the Eldar" This provoked a torrent of arguments.

"We won't have those Naïve Tau anywhere near our sacred buildings" Phasmatis insisted.

"You expect us to move our cadres so suddenly?" Forethought questioned.

"Why must my Sisters be relegated to Guardsmen quarters?" Vanessa asked.

"How do you expect us to maintain discipline with the sisters around?!" Alexander demanded.

"ENOUGH!" David shouted. "My word is final, Get to it immediately or I'll ask my cooperation cannon to assist in the proceedings"

As always, the threat got everyone moving.

…

The Sentinel Power lifter extended its arm to haul the next box of equipment into the transport. The Imperial Guard's 46th logistical convoy had offered assistance to the Sisters in order to better help them move their gear out of the theatre room. Arvus lighters had set down on the edge of the table and the two factions were loading up the various holy icons and promethium tanks for transportation. It was a huge logistical effort, and had taken the group nearly half an hour to work through the first lot of supplies.

"What should we do with the Covenant building?" Commander Zacharie, leader of the convoy, asked.

"We shall take care of that, don't you worry commander" Vanessa responded.

"I…see, anything else need to be loaded up? We're nearly done with the Icons"

"It's quite alright commander, we'll take care of everything else" She insisted. "Dismissed"

The commander snapped to attention, saluted, then turned on his heel and marched back to the transport ships.

…

Various aircraft were zooming around, a mix of Imperial and Tau craft hauling supplies to their new areas. Since they insisted on doing everything themselves, there was little me and David could other than sit on the couch and keep our heads low. David's leg was shaking furiously, but he attempted to hide it by leaning forward on it.

It didn't work. I put my arm over his neck and leant against his shoulder.

"You nervous?" I asked.

"Me? No, don't be stupid"

I smiled. "You never were good at lying were you?"

"Thanks, great to see your being supportive" he mumbled. I laughed.

"Don't worry about it, they don't hate you as much as you think"

He stared at me "They called me a baby murderer"

"They're just old, Vietnam was a thing for them, remember"

"They were like 4 back then though"

"Doesn't matter, they grew up with the vision of soldiers slaughtering innocent civilians. They project that vision onto all soldiers, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan" I looked at him "you'll get through to them eventually I'm sure"

He smiled a bit, then looked around. A pair of Valkyrie gunships banked and flew up the stairs, barely avoiding colliding with a Marauder bomber.

"As long as they all behave…" He began.

"They will, I doubt they want any more interest in them anyway" I cast off the comment with a swipe

"I hope your right" He sighed and looked straight ahead "I hope your right"

…

"I don't want ANY guardsmen entering these premises while we are still here" Vanessa insisted, pointing at the left corner of the Guards room on the holomap. The Sisters congregation was gathered with the Imperial command in the command room at the top of the Lego complex.

The Lego Base had been completed after 3 days of constant work, and it took up almost the entire east wall. The Majority of the guard could fit into the base, which provide inch living dorm for 4,000 soldiers. The remaining Guard were put onto rotating rosters between the Bastions, redoubts and defence lines, eventually coming back into the main base while others were cycled out. However, this left little room for the Sisters, who were expected to be staying for the day.

"Do not worry sister," Carter assured. "We will take care of anything in the event that something like that happens"

"You had better hope so, Commissar," The white haired nun rounded on Carter "for I will hold you personally hold you responsible"

As the sister marched out with her celestian guard, Carter couldn't help but loosen his collar. The wrath of the Adepta Sororitas was not something one wants to invoke.

…

"Are you already?" I hissed into the study. The Eldar and Tau had begrudgingly accepted my proposition after I had shot down yet another Eldar hover tank. The study had nonetheless been divided between he two, with the Eldar occupying on and around the computer desk while the tau were forced down the other side onto the Book case and surrounding area. A clear divide separated the two. So much for Xenos cooperation.

"We are fine here" Phasmatis snapped "Just get this 'visit' over and done with so we can get rid of these naïve children"

"We are not children" Forethought called.

"Just for the afternoon, don't blow one another up" I sighed.

"When was the last time we did that" Phasmatis folded his arms.

"Literally 3 days ago"

"Exactly, ages ago"

"Shut up, Phasmatis"

…

They arrived around 12 o'clock. I watched from the living room as their silver BMW rental made its way up our long winding drive, eventually pulled to a stop outside the garage. David clenched my hand so tight it turned white when they stepped out of the vehicle. My mother was a short lady, standing barely 5'5". Her blonde hair had long gone white, and it was pulled into a tight bun behind her head. She wore a yellow flowery summer dress and had flat shoes on (for once). My Father was slightly taller, standing at 5'9". Hair was no longer an issue for him, his bald head shining in the early spring sun. He wore a dark green cardigan with a grey shirt underneath and black slacks. They were quintessential old people, and it was pretty embarrassing.

"Here we go" David muttered and I grinned, pulling him over to the front door. I swung the door open and my smile grew even wider.

"Mum! Dad!" I practically leapt from the entrance and attempt to pull them both in for a hug. After overcoming the shock of my near tackle, they embraced me back.

"Hello darling, how are you?" My mother replied, pulling away before planting a kiss right on my forehead.

"Great mum, how was the trip?"

"Alright, the plane trip into Wellington was terrible, as always" Dad grumbled. I smiled, Wellington was well known for its high winds and death defying airport landings.

"I'm sure it was fine, please, come in" I gestured them inside.

"How are you, Mrs Alexandris?" David asked as they approached the front door.

"Fine David, more importantly how are you?" She peered up at my boyfriend. David was 6'2" and towered over my diminutive mother.

"Grand, as always" He smirked, but I could tell he was melting mentally under her gaze. "Hungry?"

My mother hesitated, before I eased her nerves by gently placing my arm. "Let's get you guys inside".

We lead them into the living room, which for a place that had recently been the sight of a war zone between several ultra-powerful militaries, looked nearly pristine. As Grace promised, she had covered up the major battle scars with an illusion. The huge missile impact crater on the right wall looked like a normal wall section and the carpet that had been the site of the sister's last stand no longer looked like it belonged in a burned out house. Overall, it looked exactly what it looked like prior to the minis showing up.

"I put some soup on a few minutes ago, so should be almost ready" I smiled at David "Why don't you take my parents into the dining room while I plate up" His stare said ' _fuck you'_ but he smiled in reply regardless.

"Sure, come with me Mrs and Mr Alexandris"

...

"Don't be stupid, Harmon, you heard the Commissar" Nathin shook his head

"Don't say you don't want to as well" The sergeant kept his eyes on the sister's temporary compound. They were on the forward most defence line, and overlooked the corner where the sisters had set up temporary camp. The Cadian 110th's 3rd company was on guard duty again, and Nathin swore the Commissar was just getting back at them for their break in line a few days back.

"I do not…well… okay maybe I do, but I'm not stupid enough to follow through with it" Corporal Nathin went back to adjusting the settings on the quadcannon. The rest of the veteran squad was garrisoning the nearby firestorm redoubt, which meant they were playing high stakes tarot. The pair of NCO's had gone out to check the cannon calibration thanks to some dodgy playing from the rest of the squad.

' _Hard bastards, those Vets'_ Nathin grinned.

"What if we didn't go into the premises?" The Corporal looked up.

"What?"

"I mean, the commissar promised immediate execution for anyone caught abusing the lines of demarcation, but what if we stayed on our side and talked to them from here"

"That's assuming they want to talk to us"

"Well, I wouldn't call myself ugly" the corporal sighed and looked at his commanding officer. Harmon was decked in the standard black armour plates, green tunic and khaki cargo pants of the 110th. He was around the same height as Nathin, but his complexion was darker than Nathin's, and most Cadians in general. He shared the common purple eyes mutation of the rest of his home world. His hair was jet black, and Nathin had to admit, he did not look ugly.

He would never admit that though, he couldn't stand the sergeants over inflated ego as it was, so he just rolled his eyes.

"From what I heard" The corporal sighed, turning back to his gun maintenance "the Sororitas are all about abstinence, saving themselves for the Emperor or something"

"The Emperor Protects" the sergeant whispered and I ducked my head in respect. Despite all his shortcomings, the sergeant's faith was his redeeming factor. At least in the Commissars eyes.

"Anyway" I said, looking back up "you have no chance"

"Well hell, I'm a pious man…"

"Modest too"

"…I'm sure the sisters would appreciate that"

Nathin glanced over at the sister's perimeter. "I've got you covered…"

Harmon crossed his arms. "I need a lot more dedication than that, corporal"

Nathin glanced around. Satisfied that none of Carter's hounds were around, he turned back to the sergeant. "Alright, let's do it"

…

Sister Jayne hopped out of the Repressor and jogged over to her Celestine superior. The area the sisters had set up was little more than a fortified shrine, for the sisters did not expect to stay long.

At least, that's what they expected when they put the stealth field up.

The logistical effort of moving the cathedral was deemed too costly by the Canoness, and thus the sisters had set up an ancient Gellar field like invention that bent the light around the cathedral, effectively making it invisible. How long it would last, however, the Canoness would not say.

"Sister?" Superior Faydra asked.

Jayne shook her head "Hmmm, sorry?"

"I asked if you had checked the exorcist tubes"

"Oh, no I haven't, sorry superior"

"That won't get them primed, sister, get to it" Jayne saluted and made her way over to the exorcist park. The sisters only possessed 3 of the vehicles, so at least she would not spend too much time on her work.

"How are you, Jayne?" the servitor on the first vehicle asked.

"Fine, servitor, what's the status on these tubes?" Jayne replied, peering down one of them

"The two on the left are slightly melted, nothing that will affect the firing procedure, but it may affect the trajectory slightly"

"I see, do we have spares?"

"There are a few in the compartment next to the ammo box" the sister nodded and hopped off the artillery tank. She opened the side door of the vehicle and let it slam to the ground. Unlike the rhino, the exorcist's side door could only hold a few boxes of ammo and tube replacements. Jayne reached in and grabbed two of the bronze exorcist tubes and placed them on the roof. She then closed the door and vaulted herself back up on top of the tank. Jayne attempted to unscrew the first tube, but for some reason it wasn't screwing out…

"It's a reverse thread" Someone said from nearby. Jayne's head shot up in surprise, only to see two Cadians standing on the other side of the perimeter marker.

"What are you talking about" She hissed.

One of the guardsmen stepped forward and sluing his rifle over his shoulder. "That's a Prioris patter, right? We were using them on Sanctorus prime, and we had to replace their soft bronze tubes regularly, they're reverse threat for some reason"

The sister looked suspiciously at the guardsman, then started screwing the tube right instead of left. Sure enough, the tube screwed out easily and she replaced it in good order.

"Thanks" she mumbled.

"No problem, need any more help?" he asked.

"No! I'm fine!" She snapped.

"Are you sure? You've got two more of these things to go, and replacing the tubes is one of the easiest things to do"

Jayne bit her lip. Finally, she nodded and gestured the two guardsmen over. The forward one grinned and stepped over the line. The minute he did this, however, an alarm was tripped and several sisters sprinted over. Before he could say anything, they tackled him to the ground. His partner looked completely dumbfounded before he too was tackled to the ground.

"Sister, do you know anything of this?" Superior Faydra asked.

"They were…uh…coming to help?"

"YOU INVITED THEM OVER?!" Faydra demanded.

"Not necessarily…well…yes" she replied meekly "it's just, I've only been in the order a few weeks, and I don't really know how to repair exorcist, the training covenant I was at didn't have any on station. They seemed to know what they were doing, so I thought rather than repairing the vehicles badly I would seek some extra help"

"You should have asked the servitors, they would know what to do here" the superior turned to the struggling guardsmen "take them away". The two guardsmen glanced at each other before looking back at the superior.

"Where exactly are you going to take us?" the lead one asked.

"You're commissar promised us he would take care of any perimeter violations" At this the two guardsmen started squirming.

"Hey!" a few more guardsmen ran over.

"Lazaro, thank god, they're trying to get us shot!" One of the apprehended guard shouted.

"Under what charges?" Lazaro asked, looking at the sisters.

"They were attempting to sabotage our vehicles" Faydra replied.

"We were trying to help!" one of the apprehended guardsman.

"Bah, you should plead your case with your commissar"

"Fat chance" Lazaro snarled and he slipped a flash bang out of his pouch and prepared to toss it.

…

"What was that?" Mrs Alexandris asked. I glanced at the roof, secretly thanking the break in the awkward silence, but also really annoyed it had to be them.

"Nothing!" Kate immediately dismissed it, but it was clearly a muffled popping sound, possibly an explosion. If we could hear it…

"I definitely heard something" Mr Alexandris nodded.

"Don't be ridiculous, I didn't hear…" I begun

"What are you hiding" Mrs Alexandris peered at me.

"What's that supposed to mean" I glared back. "I didn't hear anything, maybe you're just hearing things"

That struck a nerve "So if I went upstairs and looked around, I wouldn't find anything?" she questioned.

Before I could stop myself, I snapped back "certainly not"

She took this as a challenge and immediately stood from the table

"Please mother, sit down" Kate tried.

"I'm fine, darling, just going to the toilet" She turned and made her way to the stairs, totally bypassing the downstairs toilet. I glanced at Kate, and we reached a split second decision. Leaping out of my seat, I quickly ran across the living room and vaulted over the stair railing, blocking Kate's mother's progression.

"The upstairs one is out of order" I quickly said

"What are you hiding, David?"

"A broken toilet?" I tried. She glared.

"Let me past, David"

"I can't do that"

"What are you going to do? Shoot me like the civilians you shot back in Afghanistan?" That stung, so much it paralyzed me and fell against the wall, sliding down to the ground and letting her past without resistance. She had reached the top step before I finally came too.

"Please, Mrs Alexandris, let's be reasonable here" I tried, just as she reached the door to the Imperial Guards room.

"You're going to have to do better than that, David" and she opened the door.

…

I heard my Mother yelp in surprise just as I came to David's side.

"Beth!" my father yelled, and he pushed past David and I to get to her. She had just opened the door into the Imperial Guard room, which looked like a tiny military base, complete with tanks, jets and soldiers on parade. I couldn't see much, but it sounded like there was a brawl going on in there.

"What are those things?" She screamed. The sounds of fighting inside died down.

"Xenos!" I heard someone yell and a hundred las shots and bolter rounds flew at my mother, striking her dress all-over. She screamed and slammed the door, resting her back against it.

Thank god they didn't fire any of their missiles.

"What were those things?" She repeated, this time at David.

"Uh…" he tried to think of something stupid and clever to say. Instead, he sighed and told the truth. "They are warriors from a far off future, turned tiny and dumped in our house and stuck here as of Thursday night"

My mother just stared at him for a few seconds

"You're crazy" she finally said and hobbled towards the stairs. I have to admit, she took this much better than David and I did.

"Let's go, Alan, we're leaving" She turned to David. "Then we're going to call the police, I won't allow my daughter to stay in a house filled with psychotic tiny aliens"

"Please don't mum" I urged.

"You're coming with us too, I don't trust you with him anymore" she said, descending the stairs with a speed she doesn't normally demonstrate in her advanced age.

"What!"

"You heard me, it's far too dangerous" she reached the bottom and turned to me. I opened my mouth to argue but Dad put his hand on my shoulder.

"Come now, darling, surely you can see how insane it is to stay"

"We have in under control…" I tried, but David chose the wrong time to stifle a laugh. Mum glared at him.

"That's it, we leave now!" She turned to leave, but instead she froze. On the balustrade of the stairs, Grace, Sasha, Marcus, Stygian and a collection of warlocks and other psykers stood in a semi-circle facing my parents. They were chanting ineligible vowels and constants, which appeared to be putting my parents under some sort of spell. His continued for about a minute, before Grace stepped forward and raised her voice above the chanting. She spoke in a completely foreign tongue, but when she finished my parents collapsed to the floor, along with the majority of psykers gathered. Only Stygian, Grace, Marcus and a few warlocks remained standing.

"What, uh, what was that?" I asked after a while.

"We just wiped their memories, they will not remember anything they saw here today" Grace gasped.

"Will they be okay?"

She quickly gathered her composure and straightened up. "They should be fine, as long as when they wake you tell them the visit was fine and you don't act like anything went amiss, then they won't suspect a thing" She assured us. "They are very susceptible to suggestion about the time they forgot, so will likely accept anything you tell them"

"What about your friends?" David asked. Grace cast her gaze back to the collection.

"The Mon-Keigh may take a while to recover, but it shouldn't leave any permanent damage, we bore the brunt of the casting in any case"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Stygian asked. Grace ignored him.

"How long will they be out?" I asked, pulling my eyes off my parents crumpled bodies.

"A few more minutes, I suggest you take them out to their car, least the raise any more questions about their visit"

…

"And you decided to shoot?" Carter demanded, eyeing up the lieutenant.

"Sir, we had no idea what it was. We suspected some kind of Xeno, and decided to fire before it tried anything" Lieutenant Daniel crumpled under the Commissars gaze.

"You could have compromised our entire operation, you realise that, don't you?"

"Yes Sir, I take full blame for my actions sir, do not punish them men for this"

"I don't intend to, get out of my sight"

The lieutenant opened his eyes "S…Sir?"

"Are you begging me to change my mind? Go!" the lieutenant wasted no time in leaving the command centre after a few more apologies and thanks.

"You're learning" Cynthia called from the opposite entrance. Carter grinned and turned to her.

"After reading some of Cain's archives, I've decided to adopt his more… compassionate stance. He raises a great many points"

"Indeed, maybe the men will actually cover you rather than purposely positon themselves behind you" they had closed the gap and were within a few feet of each other when Vanessa walked in.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything" she huffed and the two guard officers blushed and quickly pulled apart.

"Uh, Sister, how can I help you?" Carter scratched the back of his neck.

"I assume the punishment for those guardsmen that violated the borders is coming along nicely?" She asked. Carter paused, trying to think of something to say before Alexander strolled in.

"They have proceeded as promised" He assured the Canoness, before winking at the commissar. "Would you like me to provide the 46th convoy to assist in your pack up?"

The Canoness glanced between the General and the Commissar, before sighing "that won't be necessary, general. I think my sisters are quite sick of your guardsmen"

"Suit yourself" he shrugged, before making the sign of the Aquila on his chest "May the Emperor bless your journey" Vanessa returned the gesture and made her way down the narrow stair well and out of the base.

"Thank you, Julius"

"No thank you Carter, I was starting to get sick of you executing my men all the time. Besides your rule promised execution to anyone caught sneaking across the lines of demarcation. From what I heard, they were invited over" Alexander smirked, looking between the two officers "I hope you two use the emperors protection when the time comes" he then laughed at his own joke while the Elysian and Commissar went bright red, struggling to meet each other's gaze.

 **For those interested, I'm going to be doing a quick one shot that is a crossover of Warhammer and Percy Jackson, it may even be a full story depending on the reception.**

 **Other than that wait for the next chapter, where we go camping…**

 **Remember, More Reviews = More Chapters, faster**


	7. Let's Get Outdoors

**Hey! I'm back guys after a foray into the world of Percy Jackson, which may become develop into a permanent story later on.**

 **Anyway, one of the main reasons I left this for a while is because of the massive drop in reviews. Now, I don't automatically except reviews from every single person, but it worries me when the reviews on chapter 5 are at 16 and the reviews for chapter 6 are a measly 5. Sorry if I sound entitled thanks to the large amount of reviews I've been getting previously, but it can take a good week or two for me to get a chapter down, and only a few minutes for you to write a constructive review. It really does help, and I'm not joking reviews are like my sustenance for continuing the story. If they go the story stops, because at that point how do I know what I'm doing is right and whether people like it or not?**

 **Anyway, I am sorry I left for so long, but here is the beginning of the camping story arc with the long awaited main antagonist for this arc, which if you saw the polling results for the previous**

 **Thought for the day** _"Sorry, I prefer blondes"_ – Commissar Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM

++Terra, Sol System, Sol sector, Solar Segmentum++

++015.M3, 11:58 GMT+12++

"Right, shoot now" **Bang** "Look, do you know how much money spend on each bullet? Neither do I, but I assume we spend the money so we can use the bullets TO ACTUALY HIT THE FUCKING TARGET! How you got into the NZSAS with that shooting is beyond me, you better straighten your rifle right now or I'll send your ass back to the reserves. Understand?"

"Yes sir, sorry sir"

"Unless sorry fixes your lazy eye you clearly have behind that scope, don't bother" I spat at the corporal.

"Sergeant Barnes" My superior, lieutenant Selwyn, called. I glared at the corporal on the rifle then marched from the firing range and reported to Selwyn by the ammo dump.

"I can hear your yelling from here, sergeant

"Are we going soft on the recruits now? That hardly seems fair considering what I had to go through"

He chuckled "No, it's good, but these new guys are greener than the reserves, so just be careful what you say, these guys are good, it's why they're here" I nodded and looked back at the firing range. I was in Papakura military base for the week. Apparently, I was too useful to send to the ministry for some bureaucratic liaison job, so the army kept me on as an official 'training instructor'.

I loved it. I knew after my 4th deployment to Afghanistan I wasn't going back, I had promised to Kate before leaving that I would not volunteer to return with the regiment's next cycle. But I wasn't going to leave the military, and she knew it, so I signed up for instructor. Normally that would mean I was down overseeing the reserve regiment in Wellington, but this week was an exchange of sorts and I was back with the regiment that nearly got me killed in Afghanistan multiple times.

"Anyway, what do you think of the men?" Selwyn asked.

"They should do fine, when are they due for dispatch?"

"2 weeks today they head out to Baghdad" He responded grimly. I nodded, I knew the deployment to Iraq was not a popular one.

"At least they won't be in combat" I tried.

"Yeah, but the boys in Vietnam weren't supposed to be fighting either"

"This is different"

He stared out across the military base. Two weeks from now he'll be looking at a base like this in the middle of Iraq. "I sure hope so"

I cleared my throat, trying to change topic "So what do you want me to do now, sir?"

"How long you here for?"

"Leaving tomorrow, sir"

"Tell you what, you've done well to come up here, I have something for you" he turned around and started pulling some things out of his pack. He produced two small slips of card.

"Sir?"

"Two passes for the Otaki Beach Camp ground"

I was speechless, since when do senior officers give sergeants gifts. He laughed at my expression.

"You've been through hell and back, David, I still haven't thanked you for Bamiyan"

"Hey that was my job" I responded defensively.

"I would have died if you hadn't taken that insurgent out and you know it, I really can't thank you enough"

"But you're giving me tickets to a camp out on the coast?" I grinned.

"Hey, you don't have to take them"

"No they're great, thank you so much"

"I hope Kate likes camping" he winked at me. I laughed, then I realised.

The minis.

…

"Hello beautiful" a familiar voice chided over the phone

"Oh it's you" I responded sarcastically.

"You know you love me"

"That's debatable, how'd today go?"

"Yeah alright, a few useless idiots couldn't shoot straight" David joked.

"You used to be like that" I scolded him mockingly.

"Nah I was perfect from day one"

"I'm sure" I rolled my eyes.

"The minis?"

"We lost the Xbox to a wayward missile barrage"

"Are you kidding me!? That's like $500"

"That's why I'm not joking"

He cursed. "Well that makes my proposal sound infinitely worse"

My heart started to race "A…a proposal?"

"Yea, I was going to ask if you wanted to go camping, we deserve it after all the shit we've been through the last week"

"Oh" I sighed. "That sounds like something we need to talk about when you get back"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow" he said happily

"Sure" and I slammed the phone down on the receiver.

"Something wrong, milady?" Cynthia asked from the edge of the dining table. She was decked in her Elysian combat suit, tied raven black hair and shoulder slung las-carbine.

"I'm fine" I lied, blinking heavily. "How are the others?"

…

"Hey! That was clearly 7 inches there!" Forethought yelled from atop the great Mountain Dew bottle.

"What's up with your auspex, Xeno? Those marines only moved 6 inches"

"Cheating again, Marcus?" Phasmatis called from the rule book.

The Blood Angel ignored that clear jab and turned to Vanessa "What comes after the movement phase again?"

"The Psychic phase" Vanessa replied, exasperated.

"Excellent, how many dice do I get?"

"What's your mastery level?"

"2"

"You said you had a mastery level of 1!" Forethought demanded as he vaulted down from the bottle.

"I said that was my base level, I paid the 25 points for the upgrade" Marcus dismissed the comment with a wave.

"Oh sure you did, just like you put the multi-melta on the land raider just in time for you to take down my riptide"

"And how you use your psychic powers to influence rolls" Alexander called from a nearby salamander which was watching the battle unfold.

"I only did that once" Marcus whined.

"It's enough for me to null your powers whenever you roll" Grace pointed out.

"Jesus will you all just shut up, it's hard enough to keep this position for an extended period of time without you all arguing over nothing" A nearby space marine scout called.

"Fine, you can have your supposed mastery level 2, fucking bullshit" the Tau said.

"Excellent, what next sister?"

"Roll a D6, then add your mastery level, that's how many psychic dice you can role for each of your powers" Vanessa transcribed as she looked over the rules.

"I get the same amount to deny right?"

"Yes Forethought" Vanessa rolled her eyes "you do get to deny"

"Bring forth the holy cubes" a few space marines that weren't in game hauled over 6 dice. Marcus rolled his D6, scoring three more warp charge. Forethought then proceeded to deny them all.

"What! How did you do that!" the librarian demanded. Vanessa gestured and a few guardsmen lifted the page of the rule book over to the next _._

"According to this, the enemy team can role to deny the same amount of dice you rolled for warp conjure, and you decided to use all of yours on conjuring _molten beam_ and _Inferno._ Two of which failed to hit"

"That makes literally no sense, I can cast a molten beam at these Xenos and they cannot do anything about it, watch" The librarian clapped his hands together and a white hot beam burst out from his outstretched palms at the tau commander. It then immediately dissipated on the tau's shields.

"I beat you feel pretty stupid now" Phasmatis called.

"Shut up Xeno! Alright, fine, I fail my casting, next?"

"Shooting phase"

"Finally! Tactical marines, shoot those fire warriors!"

"Gue'la we've been over this, you have to role first" Forethought retorted.

"Never in the field of battle had I ever rolled a dice before shooting the enemy"

"You wanted to play this game" Vanessa said as she scanned through the shooting phase section of the rulebook

"I'm just surprised this is how these giants conduct warfare"

"You do realise this is just a game, right?" Vanessa deadpanned.

"Bah! It's all nonsense"

"Are you going to roll" Forethought asked.

"Whatever, pass me the dice, I must roll threes, correct?"

"Yes, Ballistic skill of 4 is threes"

"Excellent, I shall role for the bolters in that tactical squad" he pointed at a 7 man squad of tactical marines.

"All right, you're in rapid fire range" Carter announced once as his squad of ogryns had pulled the tape out to check.

"Double shots!" Marcus squealed very un-space marine like and gathered a further 7 d6's.

"Emperor guide my rolls" he whispered as he loaded them into the plastic cup. He then ordered a nearby terminator not in battle to kick the cup over and the dice scattered out across the board. He made 8 hits. He then rolled to wound, needing threes again, he scored 5 wounds. The Tau then allocated them all onto their shield drone, which took 4 before being destroyed by the fifth.

"That's no wounds on the actual squad" Vanessa counted up.

"Are you actually serious?" Marcus rounded on the sister.

"Quite"

"Fine next squad" The librarian ordered. His shooting phase went on without a single wound being inflicted on anything other than a few drones.

"Fuck this" he said as he watched an entire devastator squad empty its lascannon shots into a hammerhead without scoring anything more than a single glance.

"I suppose it reflects your armies ability to actually do anything" Phasmatis called snarkily. Marcus snarled a curse at him and he reached out with his mind. Before Grace or any of the other psykers could react, he literally flipped the table, sending soldiers, armoured vehicles and hastily prepared terrain scattering across the living room floor.

"God-Emperor damn it not again!" Alexander called, stuck under his salamander.

"Can't you just deal with not winning, Space Marine!" Vanessa demanded.

"What's going…?" Kate walked in from the Dining room "Oh for fucks sake! This is the 4th time this week you guys!"

"It was their fault" all the minis pointed at either Marcus, Forethought or Phasmatis.

++015.M3, 18:08 GMT+12++

I rolled into the drive the morning after Selwyn gave me the passes. It was a still spring night, strange for Wellington, which was notorious for its terrible wind. The sun was just dipping below the horizon, casting an orange glow across the twilight sky. I parked the car in the drive way and headed inside.

The house was cleaner than I expected. Most of the time when I get home there are pock marks from missile impacts. It had been nearly two weeks since Kate's parents came around, and the warp magic had worn off, forcing us to actually clean the place of all the scorch marks and bullet holes from the first nights battles. Kate was sitting on the couch, her legs curled up under her, chatting with a few of the minis. She wore a light blue blouse, skinny blue jeans and had her blonde hair braided down one shoulder. Sometimes I just can't get over how beautiful she is.

"How's it going" I grinned.

"As good as it gets when you have a house full of rampaging miniature soldiers" she leapt up and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

I laughed "It's the little things that count"

"I suppose" She sighed. "So what's this about a camping trip?" at the mention of camping trip the minis became silent, turning their heads trying to listen. I'm not sure if they knew what camping was, but they knew a trip meant going somewhere other than the house. I pulled out the passes and showed them to Kate.

"A week up at Otaki Beach. Apparently its quiet this time of the year, and the weather forecast looks pretty good"

"Wait, when do you propose we go?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Well, I figured we leave Sunday and we come home next Friday"

"I can't just leave my job"

"Take a holiday, you still haven't used any of your weeks from last year"

"That requires checking a week or so ahead"

"What about sick days, you still have some of those banked up"

"What if I'm sick later in the year?"

"When are you actually sick?"

Now let me explain. Since Kate started working at the accountancy firm, she had not gotten sick ONCE, and she had been working there nearly 18 months now. Her immune system is more secure than the Korean DMZ, and even that might be a bad comparison.

"Even so, what about the obvious problem, the minis?"

"Well, we take them with us of course" she stared at me blankly.

"You're kidding right, there's nearly 5,000 2 inch high soldiers occupying almost every room in our house, and you propose we take them into public for a camping trip at a public camping ground"

"Not all of them…"

"Oh, so we leave them behind, IN OUR HOUSE, WITHOUT SUPERVISION?!"

"Well when you say it like that its sounds stupid…"

"That's because it is"

"…But if we leave the responsible ones in charge, we can trust them to keep the house in relatively good order and take the more volatile elements to go out and blow off some steam in the outdoors"

"You make it sounds like they're children"

"For all extensive purposes, they are. Remember, they have been kept up in this house for nearly 3 weeks now, we won't even let them get in the car with us for a ride along. They are dying to get outside, better we take them and watch over them than they sneak out by themselves and destroy something that will attract too much attention"

Kate considered this for a second. "I'm still not sure"

"I don't blame you, I'm not even sure myself, but we seriously need this, the minis are pushing us to breaking point"

She sighed. "Ok, fine, let's bring them together and discuss what we're going to do here"

…

"So you're going to take us beyond the citadel fortress you call home?" Carter asked.

"Not all of you" A torrent of angry complaints followed. "BECAUSE" David said loudly and the minis quietened down "Because there are nearly 5,000 of you, which will almost immediately arouse suspicion if you're seen in the car with us. We could carry maybe half of you, but that means we have to leave the most responsible and level headed ones here to lead the others"

Many of the minis from the various factions looked to their leaders. All wanted desperately to go and visit this 'Otaki beach', as most (particularly the Imperials) had never seen any kind of ocean. Alexander sighed and stepped forward.

"I volunteer to lead the Imperial Guard in absence of Governor David and Governess Kate" He announced. "I will send my Lord Commissar to head 1st, 3rd and 6th company on this expedition" There was a loud groan from a chunk of the Cadians.

"Well, the Elysians will also offer their services for the trip" Cynthia called.

"If that's the case, I shall keep the 657th in garrison. We wouldn't do well in a mobile expedition in any case" Tenebrae declared.

"I shall stay behind as well" Grace offered "and send my Autarch to lead any Eldar elements attached to this expedition"

"If that is the case" Carter pointed out "we will need a psyker to maintain long distance contact"

"I will" Sasha said quickly, before blushing slightly "the Farseer and I are better telepathically linked than most other humans, and I could better connect the two forces should the Farseer and her Seer council stay behind"

"Uh" David interjected "we have cell phones that will reach the house from where we're going, so the whole psychic things is irrelevant

"Regardless, I think it's wise we keep a non-titan form of communication" Corish reasoned. David shrugged.

"I shall accompany the Tau forces on this trip, and Aun'la Shi shall maintain the Tau command while I'm away" Forethought said.

"The sisters will remain here" Vanessa Affirmed.

"As will the mechanicum" Magos announced in his grinding mechanical voice.

"Alright, what about the marines?" Kate asked.

"The Blood Angels shall accompany the task force" Marcus replied.

"As will the Ultramarines" Ventris declared, stepping forward. The two marines glanced at one another, clearly not happy with the other sharing command.

"The Dark Angels shall stay behind then" Corish announced, though he did not sound happy about this particular arrangement.

"So that's everyone sorted?"

"Do not act so brashly, David" Stygian interjected. "I shall also accompany you, along with the rest of the Ordo Malleus assets"

"Fantastic" David said, monotone.

++015.M3, 09:46 GMT+12++

I slammed the boot of the car. It was a silver BMW X5, and it wasn't small, but it certainly seemed a lot smaller with all the minis occupying various niches in the vehicle. The Imperial Guard were tucked into the boot alongside the Space Marines and inquisition while the two Xenos took up the back seats of the car. We had packed in the tent, our own baggage and finally put in all the other things the minis needed, making the vehicle itself very cramped indeed.

"That's everything" I turned around to David. "Are the minis inside all good?"

"They're fine" he assured me.

"Did you…"

"I did debrief them, they know the consequences of anymore our shit gets broken. Besides we have the biggest trouble makers with us"

"I heard that" Marcus' muffled voice came through the boot door.

"Don't worry, try relax and have fun" he coerced my cheek.

I sighed, and looked up at him "No sense in standing out here for much longer, we have a two hour drive to make"

"I couldn't agree more" he grinned.

…

"Oh no"

"What is it this time?" Kate moaned.

"Low on fuel, we'll never get to Otaki with just this" David said.

"We have some promethium in the back, we could top up your great vehicle" Ventris offered.

"I really don't think that would help, like, at all" David assured him "we need to go to the petrol station to refuel"

"A petrol station you say?" Carter asked. "We could use a few more gallons of promethium"

"NO! You stay in here" David affirmed. Reluctantly, the minis agreed and they rode in silence until they arrived at the petrol station. It was a BP station, and had a few other cars in it, though not enough to make them wait in line for a pump. David and Kate got out, and David began fuelling up the car while Kate went inside to get things and pay for the fuel. Meanwhile the minis were scrambling up to the window sill of the car door in an attempt to get a better look at the 'petrol station'.

"David was right" Cynthia mused "there is an entire race of these giant humans"

"I wonder what led to the development of such deformed creatures" Ventris said.

"Probably the same kind of thing that lead to you Mon-Keigh being developed in the first place" Phasmatis shrugged.

"Sirs?" Corporal Nathin called before a brawl started between the Eldar and Imperials "One of the smaller ones in that large vehicle over there appears to have spotted us". Sure enough, a little girl, no older than 10, was staring at the minis, trying to figure out if they were real. She gave them a little wave and instinctively a few of the guard raised their hands in return. This provoked a wide grin from the girl and she began tapping insistently on the seat in front of her, pointing over at the minis at the same time.

"What is she doing?" Marcus wondered aloud.

"It appears to be signalling the larger one in front" Forethought responded. Sure enough, a woman was sitting in front of the young girl. She attempted to ignore the girl at first, but eventually she relinquished and turned around, somewhat irritably. The Woman appeared to be saying something sternly to the little girl. The girl simply shook her head and pointed towards the minis. Eventually, the woman glanced over to David and Kate's car, and she did a double take. She seemed sceptical at first, but after straining her eyes for a few seconds her eyes widened. She got out of the car and walked briskly into the petrol station. Soon after Kate and David got back in the car and started the engine.

"Uh, David"

"Ventris"

"What would happen if one of the other Titians saw us?" The Ultramarine asked. David's head snapped to face the marine.

"Which one"

"It appeared to be of the female variety, older than Kate…there she is!" Kate and David's looked to where the marine was pointing, and the woman was walking quickly towards their car with what appeared to be some kind of security guard being dragged in tow. David didn't even pause, he gunned the accelerator and they screamed out of the petrol station onto the highway and towards Otaki.

…

We arrived at the camp ground about an hour and a half later. The camp had a very colonial feel to it, with both the reception area and the cabins done in this style, red roofs and white washed boards. It was secluded enough, with trees sheltering most of the individual sites. It was situated right on the beach, and had a few direct routes to the beach proper through the sand banks. Just as Selwyn had promise there were barely any others at the camp. After checking in, I took the car down to site 16, right next to the sand banks and separated from most of the other areas of the camp by a row of trees. We pulled into the site, which was about 5x4 meters, plenty of room for the tent.

"Here we are" I declared, and all the minis started shouting excitedly, something like 'for the Emperor!' or 'the greater good shall claim this place'. Kate and I jumped out of the car, opened the side doors and boot, and started pulling out the bags and whatnot.

"Alright, team meeting!" Kate shouted and all the minis gathered around. "Now the reason we came out here was so we could get some fresh air. It would be ridiculous for us to try and control you all directly, so we are willing for you all to get free reign" There was an excited buzz amongst the minis "BUT. You must pledge not to interact with other humans like us, or attack any buildings/vehicles that look big enough for us to use. Understand?" There was a reluctant yes emitted from the crowd and then they all scattered off in different directions, all pursuing various objectives. Kate sighed and walked over to help me set up the tent

"You have potentially done the best thing we could have done" I said, threading the pole through one of the tent channels "or the worst thing we could have done"

She gave me a reluctant smile and watched a flight of Valkyrie aircraft disappear over the sand dunes.

…

"Bring us down over there, it think I saw something" Cynthia shouted into her comm-bead and the Valkyrie dipped to the right and flew down over the dunes. It settled down in a clearing in the thick long grass just over the eve of the bank, and a few other Valkyries landed nearby. Two Sky talons swooped in and dropped off four Drop sentinels before they and the other gunships lifted off and returned to the camp site.

"What exactly did you see, lieutenant?" Faye from 2nd drop platoon asked.

"Something moving, through here, it looked big" the Elysian commander called back. "Make sure your weapons are locked and ready". A few Elysians snapped their power packs into place and locked them in.

There was a low grumbling sound, followed by heavy footsteps. Cynthia raised her eye at the Commissar.

"Ever hear anything like that before?"

"Once" Carter responded. "Let's hope it's not what I'm thinking. FORM A DEFENSIVE PERIMETER ON MY POSITION" He yelled and the two drop platoons pulled into a tight circle on the bar batch of sand they had landed on with the sentinels in close support. A few tense seconds followed until and Ork stumbled out of the long grass.

"OYE!" was all he could manage before a dozen las rounds cut into his skull and his body went spinning into the sand. But that's all was needed, others started shouting back in response and soon enough a dozen more boyz were pouring out of the grass stems.

"WAAAAAAAAAAGH!" they yelled collectively, loud enough to echo on the nearby cliffs. The Sentinels stepped forward, and their heavy bolters sent bolts into tightly packed mob and making the Orks explode in a fine red mist.

"We need marauders, incendiary bombs, NOW!" Carter yelled over the vox, before putting the receiver back on the troopers back and adding his bot pistol to the torrent of fire being laid upon the Orks. There were dozens more now, but they were cut down with equal regularity trademark of the Elysian regiments.

Then the Squiggoth came smashing through the grass.

 **Ta'dah! The Orks are here and they are quite interested in camping as much as the other factions. We will see more of their hilarity in chapters to come, but for now they are here and ready to pummel some 'umies.**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys take the time to review, it seriously helps and inspires more chapters to keep on coming. The overdue nature of this chapter is an example of that.**

 **Remember, More Reviews = More Chapters, Faster.**


	8. Green With Envy

**Holy shit one month! That's not good and goes against my whole policy. I think Writers block is encroaching upon me, as I struggle to write any more. And, to add to all that, full on school exams are coming on, not just the practices like earlier, and I'm starting a new part-time job, so these chapter will be less frequent. I know this is exactly what happens before other TinyHammer stories before they are seemingly postponed indefinitely, but I will try to get them out semi-regularly. It kills me to do this as I hate the half-finished fics on the site as much as you guys do, but life gets in the way.**

 **On a lighter note, 50 followers! I am so happy to see such a large following for my story, I didn't think it would get this big to be honest. Glad to see my faithful reviewers have returned, and I didn't realise the Fanfiction lockout a month back now was a global thing, so that probably explains the lack of reviews on chapter 6.**

 **Also, I thought I'd clarify my measuring system. When I'm referring to distance in First person (Kate or David) it's is measurements at our scale (and they will remain metric since that's the correct one, I will revert to imperial only when I have them playing 40k). When I'm referring to distance in third person, it depends on who is in the section. If there are no big humans in the section then all distances are based on the mini's perception (again, metric not imperial). Hope that clears up any confusion.**

 **Anyway, on with the story**

 **Thought for the day:** _'Some may question your right to destroy ten billion people. But those who understand realise that you have no right to let them live._ ' - In Exterminatus Extremis

++Terra, Sol System, Sol Sector, Segmentum Solar++

++015.M3, 18:00 GMT+12++

"That Squiggoth is really pissing me off now!" Carter yelled, reaching the crest of the sand bank.

"Really? I was quite enjoying its company" Cynthia replied mockingly. The rest of the drop platoon followed behind. The Squiggoth had been tripped by one of the Sentinels, buying the platoon a little more time. Unfortunately the sentinel didn't survive the encounter.

"I thought you had a plan"

"I do"

"That doesn't involve being stupidly sarcastic?"

"Then no" The marshal grinned. "Do you know how to use your grav chute yet?"

"Barely"

"Good, this'll be a great crash course"

"Aren't they only for preventing a fall? Not starting one?"

The lieutenant looked down the hill at the struggling Squiggoth. The Sentinel had shot repeatedly at its knees, turning one into a mangled mess of blood, pulp and bone splinters. It was still moving, albeit slower, and was intent on crushing the cab of the downed imperial walker. "We should have sufficient height if we jump from here and use the thrusters to their fullest. But we might only get a couple seconds out of them, so make the landing count"

Carter frowned, looking at the Xeno beast.

Cynthia watched the Commissars expression. "It's not a Knarloc, you won't survive trying that again. Trust me, this is our best crack at it, Air support is minutes away, minutes we don't have"

The commissar hesitated, before grasping the satchel tightly and nodding "Lets down this Xeno filth"

The marshal grinned. "I'm going to put your pack onto its highest power setting, which makes the cog boys really mad because we're not supposed to do it, so don't tell" She winked at the Commissar before fiddling with a few dials and giving his pack a few good technical knocks. She stepped back and took a position beside him.

"Ready?" She asked, looking at him sideways.

"Ready" and he activated the pack. The thruster nozzles shot out huge gouts of blue promethium flame and the commissar was propelled skywards. Getting over the initial shock of the launch, the commissar regained control of the grav-chute and attempted to direct himself above the Squiggoth's rider platform. Suddenly the chute cut and he was falling about 4 meters towards the beast. Before he landed one of the riders looked up with a quizzical look.

"Wot? Iz it raining 'umies or somefing?" he asked aloud before the commissar planted a boot on his face and sent the Ork sprawling onto the deck. He un-holstered his bolt pistol and fired it at the closest gunner, making his head explode and sending the greenskin tumbling out of the cab. He then decapitated the Ork he had sent onto the deck with his power sword and finished the final gunner with another bolt round. Cynthia landed next to him and fired her hotshot las pistol into the head of the reign holder, leaving the two imperials the soul occupants of the platform. As soon as the ropes holding the beast slackened the Squiggoth bucked slightly and started to stomp around before continuing to chew the sentinel.

"Not the best course of action there, marshal" Carter quipped.

"Shut up and give me the charges" she glowered back. The commissar slipped the satchel off of his shoulder and took out a couple of melta charges. He chucked one to the marshal before taking his own and setting it on the ammo storage bay. They worked quickly, knowing the Squiggoth would not stay content with the collapsed sentinel for much longer. Cynthia laid a final charge on the diesel generator before calling to the commissar.

"That's us done!"

"Great, how do we get off?" Carter responded.

"Honestly didn't think that far ahead" Cynthia replied, nervously.

"I should shoot you for this kind of incompetence" Carter scowled.

"Just jump into the sand, it should absorb the impact if you tuck and roll"

"I'm not convinced"

"It's either that or you stay up here with the melta bombs"

The commissar rolled his eyes before crossing the deck to the side. The Squiggoth was covered in rusted spikes, chains and metal plates nailed into the beast's thick hide. They would have to get considerable distance to pass over the deadly looking armour.

"Ready?" Cynthia asked.

"Déjà vu" He responded.

"What?"

"Go!" he yelled, and they jumped out as far as they could. It wasn't far enough for the commissar,

Because his trench coat caught on one of the spikes and tore it in half. They landed in the sand, escaping with only minor bruises.

"Damn you Greenskin engineering" he coughed, holding the torn remnants of his coat.

"Get up you idiot, I don't want to be this close to that thing when we set the charges off" the marshal scowled. It was at that moment the Squiggoth turned towards them.

"Well that's just perfect isn't it?" the commissar sighed, before scrambling up and running towards the top of the sand bank again. The Squiggoth attempted to run after them, but could only achieve a limping trot, but it was enough for the beast to keep with the two officers. The Imperials were also struggling, as their heavy boots sunk into the sand as they ran.

"Do…you have… the trigger?" Carter breathed.

"Yeah…but we're…we're too close" Cynthia replied raggedly.

"That won't…matter when…it kills us"

She fumbled around on her belt before pulling off a thin metal tube, and she flipped the top off to reveal a red button. The marshal hesitated slightly.

"Do it" Carter urged.

She pressed the button, and for a second nothing happened. Then the Squiggoth exploded, the melta charges detonating the volatile ammo storages and energy systems. The force of the explosion lifted the fleeing soldiers off their feet and propelled them a good 3 meters. The ensuing fireball engulfed the alien beast and singed the backs of the two officers. They landed in the sand, and scrambled behind the wreckage of the second Sentinel.

"That went well" Carter mused.

"We killed it, didn't we?" Cynthia responded, slightly irritated.

"Can't argue with that" the commissar shrugged.

"This is squadron 49, incendiaries waiting to go, where do you want 'em Commissar?" The commissar's vox bead crackled.

"15 clicks south-south east of my position" he responded

"Sir, that's Out of visual range for me, I cannot correct the shot. Can you confirm there is just enemies there?"

Carter looked over the wreckage from the sentinel and watched dozens of Orks pour from the long grass.

"Yep"

"Alright, ETA 10 seconds, put your sunscreen on" the Pilot responded over the vox before a burst of static and the commissar hung up. The Valkyries were 2 minutes late, and it had cost them about 15 soldiers and 2 of the drop sentinels to hold out since then. Carter stood up and fired several more shots into the greenskin tide, sending a couple more Orks spinning into the sand. He crouched back down behind the makeshift barricade as a flurry of shots flew overhead.

"I don't know why you duck, Commissar" Cynthia mocked, snapping off las shots at the Ork hordes. "They couldn't hit you if you stood a meter in front of them"

"Even so…" the Commissar responded, peeking just over the edge of the sentinels cab to return fire "Better to be safe than be sorry"

The marshal shrugged. The rest of the platoon were gathered close around the downed walker, while a few others were prone in the sand. The two remaining sentinels were still cutting down large swathes of Orks, but there were more of them than they had bullets.

Carter's thoughts were interrupted by the scream of jet engines as a pair of Marauder bombers flew overhead. A few moments later the entire Ork line erupted in flame. The incendiary bombs engulfed the entire Ork horde in red flame, sending the greenskins scattered. The remaining Orks who were not hit by the Marauder bombers were either cut down by the Elysians or pulled back into the grass, a few screaming "If we run now, we can come back and foight anuver day!"

The Valkyries followed close behind the bombers, evacuating the remaining Elysians.

"Took you guys long enough" Cynthia spat as she hopped into the lead gunship

"Sorry m'lady, it's not our fault you deployed so far from the fuel depots" The flight captain responded. Cynthia simply scowled as the gunship lifted off and sped back to the camp site.

…

"Oye Boss!" The Ork ran into the bar at full boar, the back of his vest still slightly singed. The bar was similar to a classic rural bar in America, it was a modestly lit establishment that had a low hanging smoke covering the room. The major difference was the greenskins that were all sitting around tables, chucking back kegs of beer, arm wrestling and generally having a punch up. Like most of the mob, they all wore red trimmed leather vests, but they were clearly much bigger than the rest of the clan, they were the Bosses Nobz.

"What do ya want, Skoskard? I'm very busy" Skarnaak lent over the pool table, lining up his shot.

"Weez found sum umies!"

"Wot, like, normal 'uns?" He sunk the snotling skull painted to be the number 9 billiard ball and he straightened up to tower over the smaller Orkoid. The Ork warboss was an imposing force, Skarnaak was not wearing his mega armour, but even then he still stood a height of about 4 meters. His characteristic power axe was hanging from his hip, a token from defeating a Space Marine captain in melee. His custom blaster was leaning against the wall next to the pool table, tended to by a very nervous grot servant. The Ork had a large scar across the left side of his face, leaving him with just one ear on his right side.

"Yea boss, nun of dis 'giant Umie' business, right proper uns"

The Larger Ork cocked his eyebrow, and a large grin spread across his face. "Looks like we gonna 'ave sum fun taday anyway boyz" the other nobz started chuckling.

"Should we get da bikes out, boss?" Skoskard asked. Skarnaak picked up one of the billiard balls and threw it at the other Ork. An audible crack was heard upon impact, sending Skoskard reeling.

"Corse we get da Bikes, ya stupid git! Wot else would we do, walk?" The other Nobz howled with laughter before the boss held up his hand.

"O'roight boyz, nuff games, let's go get us sum 'umie skulls!"

…

"Pass me that metal elastic tension unit"

"The…what?"

Magos Orion sighed "The spring"

"Ah, why didn't you just say that?" Quartermaster Tenebrae walked over to the heap of spare parts and grabbed the spring closest to them.

"Not that one! Ugh I'll do it" the tech priest jumped down from the platform and walked over to the heap. His power arm reached deep into the heap and pulled out a near identical spring. Orion looked at Tenebrae as if this was so obvious. He then went back to his work. They had been trying to fix the xbox since David had left, and now were almost done, and the cogboys were making final adjustments before hooking it up to the TV.

"Are you sure this is actually going to fix it?" The Kreigsman asked, strolling back to the work zone, which was currently located in front of the fireplace.

"I will do better, we will drastically improve the capabilities of this gaming device" Orion responded.

"Right?"

"Indeed, observe" the techpriest leaped off of his work platform and walked around the side of the machine. He then pressed the activation button and it lit up green. He looked at the Quartermaster.

"That isn't proof it works"

"It's better than before"

"True, let's hook her up" The tech adepts were all excited as they untangled the wires and took them over to the TV.

"That won't be long enough" Grace sighed, watching the imperials attempt to work the human technology.

"What would you know, Xeno?" One of the adepts snarled back. He then went to yank the taught wire and pulled it out of the socket connected to the machine.

"Told you" The Farseer quipped happily. The adept simply grumbled and went to help the team of mechanicum personnel already trying to move the Xbox closer to the TV. Once in place, the mechanicus quickly went about hooking up the gaming machine.

"Alright, should we get one of the discs?" Tenebrae asked.

"Discs? No, get me a slice of bread" The Kriegsmen raised his eye at Orion, but went back to the kitchen to fetch the bread slice. When he returned the Xbox still hadn't displayed anything on the TV

"Ah excellent, put it in there" the Magos gestured to the former disc tray, which was now what appeared to be a toaster slot.

"You turned the Xbox into a Toaster?"

"Not entirely, you can still play the games downloaded on the system"

"And disc games?"

The Magos waved his hand "That shall be an optional update later on, and we shall charge David justly so"

"What!? It's his machine"

"Which we fixed and upgraded"

"So what your saying is you took his broken machine, added something completely irrelevant and not useful, and in order to play the games properly you're going to charge him extra, despite the fact that this is something that should have been in there in the first place?"

"Exactly, it's a popular business model in this human society"

Tenebrae then looked back at the Kitchen. "Did you pull apart the toaster as well?"

"We needed parts and the bread warming device was the most obvious place to acquire such items"

"He is going to fucking kill you"

"Not before paying us"

The Quartermaster sighed while Grace smiled. She opened her mouth to comment on the squabbling imperials when she keeled forward in pain. A few Eldar healers rushed forward to attend to the Farseer, but she waded them off and she struggled to her feet. A small crowd had gathered around her, all expecting the long awaited message of response from those on the beach front. She simply took a shaky breath and looked up at them.

"Orks. They have encountered the greenskins"

…

"I think we did a pretty good job" I said jokingly, stepping back to admire the half completed tent.

"If you say so, but you're sleeping on the side that's collapsed in on itself" Kate responded, struggling with one of the guide ropes.

"That's hardly fair, you were the one who broke it"

"I did not! You pulled out the corner peg because you weren't paying attention"

"Bah, all lies"

"Actually David, I saw that too" Sasha responded from atop a nearby box.

"Maybe you saw it in the future, but it actually hasn't happened yet"

Sasha paused for a while, before looking up at me. "How does it feel to have worse eyesight than a blind person?"

"oooo, she got you there" Ventris grinned.

"I don't have to take a mocking from pint sized soldiers like you"

 _No, but you certainly can't avoid it,_ Sasha whispered into my mind, sending a chill down my back.

"Alright I'll fix it"

Kate grinned and hand me the mallet, so I grumbled and grabbed the tool. I set about getting to work, smashing the remaining pegs on the side that had collapsed back into place _._ As I worked, the low hum of Valkyries was heard and a whole flight of the things returned. I ignored them at first, but after a lot of shouting and yelling, Kate decided to pull me over. The gunships had set down on the hood of the car, and the minis were arguing in and around them. I didn't know what they were arguing about, but I was more concerned about the scratches that would be inflicted on my car.

"What is it this time?" I sighed.

"I'll, uh, I'll let them explain" she said. I raised my eyebrow and looked at the collection of arguing minis.

"Okay, what's going on?"

"Orks! Governor, Orks!" Commissar Carter yelled back, audible over the crowd thanks to his 'augmentations' he was telling me about earlier. I thought that would be pretty cool, making your voice immediately louder than anyone else's, but I then realised no one would like me because I'd just talk over them. Maybe that's why the guard hate the commissar, rather than arbitrary and punitive form of punishment through summary execution.

"Orcs?"

"Yes! The Tau and a few Cadian units have promised to hold the line back at the beach, but I don't trust the Xenos to hold the line for much longer"

"Oookaaaaaay" I mean living breathing war gaming miniatures are one thing, but orcs seem a little bit farfetched, because they are like twice our size.

"We must contact home for reinforcements" Ventris urged.

"It can't be that bad"

The minis quietened down and started glancing at one another. Eventually Cynthia stepped forward.

"I think you better come with us, governor"

…

Nathin dived into the slit trench cut into the sand. A flurry of bolt rounds was emitted over his head from the Chimera and the pursuing Orks were cut down. The Stretch of Beach immediately preceding the camp had transformed into a fully-fledged war zone. Thunderbolts and Barracudas screamed overhead, strafing and bombing the Ork assault. But even with Air superiority the Orks kept on coming. It was a mostly mechanized force, Orks were either loaded into trukks or riding escort on their own War buggies or bikes.

"Can we get some good fucking pilots up here!?" Harmon called over the Vox.

"Calm down, 3rd, we have Vendettas in bound" the response crackled.

"Better be" the seargeant slammed the receiver back onto the vox pack.

"Sir! Battlewagon, 15 clicks in bound!" a nearby soldier called. He pointed to a ramshackle vehicle barrelling towards the position, greenskins hanging off the side. The Trukk was barely held together with nails and rattled loudly as it drove.

"Fucks sake, gimme that missile tube" the sergeant ordered, and he was handed the missile launcher.

"Ease!" he called, and the Guard around him repeated the call as he fired the launcher. The missile shot out, quickly closing the distance between them and hit the trukk square in the bonnet. A red ball of flame engulfed the vehicle and smoke obscured the vehicle from view. Harmon smiled and a few of the guardsmen let out of a sigh of relief.

Until the trukk emerged from the smoke screen, slowed but picking up speed again.

"Well Fuck" the veteran sergeant sighed. The rest of the guardsmen repeated the curse and took up their own positions on the line. The Ork vehicle kept careening towards the line, steadily increasing in speed. A few more guardsmen attempted to hit it with missiles, but these went corkscrewing away from their target.

10 meters from the imperial position, though, a flash of blue appeared and the trukk was cut clean in half and went tumbling. The scarred remains of the trukk came scrapping to a stop a few meters from the Imperial lines.

"Well" Nathin said after a few seconds "that was quite something"

"You're welcome, Gue'la" a tau soldier jumped into the trench, provoking every Veteran around it to pull a laspistol on it.

"I can see why you Imperials don't have many friends" the Tau said slowly "so quick to draw weapons on those who just saved you"

"That was you?" Nathin asked.

"Not I, that big guy over there" the Tau pointed over the trench, and sure enough, crouched next to a line of Lemun Russ Vanquisher tanks was a Broadside XV88 battlesuit. It was almost motionless, locked into place by ankle braces, and was hefting its rail rifle anti-tank weapon. Periodically, the weapon would emit a high-pitched screech and blue beam would materialise between the space between its gun barrel and an Ork vehicle.

"Well, that was convenient" Nathin sighed, before glancing at the sergeant and extending his hand to the Xeno. "Corporal Nathin of the 110th Cadian imperial Guard, 3rd company"

"Shas'ui Mia'ru, of the Au'rum hunter cadre" the Tau responded, taking the Imperials hand. Harmon was about to start yelling at his second in command when another flight of Vendetta gunships came over, blocking out his voice. The gunships strafed the Ork lines, destroying many more trukks and bikes. The sudden appearance of the gunships finally turned the Ork attack and they retreated back to their temporary lines. A cheer was emitted from the Imperial-Tau lines.

The Orks had retreated to a semi-camp area down near the water line, safe from most of the conventional weapons of the Tau and Imperial tanks, and well within their own AA bubble. The assault on the coalition lines was not without cost, as the Imperials had lost an entire Lemun Russ Punisher squadron and several Chimera transports, along with a yet incalculable number of Guardsmen. It was unknown how much the Tau had lost

"We can't hold them much longer" Harmon noted.

"Have a little more faith, sergeant" Nathin grinned.

Harmon barked out a laugh "Unless you have a one stop solution to defeat an entire Ork clan, then I highly doubt we're getting out of this one alive"

"Your subordinate is right, Gue'la" Mia'ru said "You lack faith"

"I'm not about to be educated on faith by some heretical Xeno" Harmon spat back.

"Evidently, but you seem to lack faith even in your own militaries ability, these Orks have been stopped multiple times before, what's to say we can't do it again?"

"Resources, moral, general logistics, we need a miracle to stop another assault"

…

"Where the hell did those things come from?!" David asked, more exasperated than angry. We were peeking over the dunes, seeing the warzone that now occupied it. The minis were practically itching to attack.

So much for long walks on the beach at sunset.

"Xeno filth, we must destroy them immediately!" Ventris cried.

"You want me to run in there right now?" David asked condescendingly.

"Of course we want you to get your god-weapon"

"That's at home" David replied.

"We need something else" I said

"Do you know any weaknesses of these Orks" David asked.

"Of course, fire" Cynthia replied

"Not useful on the Beach"

"Large amounts of las-fire" Carter tried

"Nope"

"Exterminatus" Stygian suggested

"What even is that? It sounds bad, so no"

"Well then what do you suggest, If you're so smart?" Phasmatis retorted.

I looked out onto the beach, combing my mind for information. Then I remembered a store back in Otaki town centre.

"Are they liable to move in herds?" I asked.

"Large, barbaric hordes, yes" Marcus agreed.

"Great, Phasmatis, how many of these bikes do you have?"

"Enough" he huffed.

"Excellent, give us five minutes" and with that I dragged my boyfriend off to do some shopping.

…

"Wot do ya mean, 'retreat'" Skaarnak replied.

"I'm…I'm sorry boss, it's just, weez were lozing too many trukkz, and bikez, and boyz, and…" Drogax pleaded.

"O'right, I'm sick of ya grovelling, I'll just 'ave to do it meself" Skarnaak growled and he stormed out of the tent.

"Oye boss, deres somfing 'appening over at da humie and bluie lines" a nearby nob rushed over.

"Like wot?"

"Like dem pointy ears driving deare fancy floaty bikez around"

"WOT!" the warboss yelled. He stormed over to the edge of the Ork camp, which was ringed in rusted steel plates pulled of mangled battlewagons and trukks. In the 500 meters that spanned nomans land was a large contingent of Windriders. They were all arrayed in perfect formation, their flags that signified the leaders whipping in the sea breeze. Nothing happened, the windriders stayed where there were, the low hum of their engines barely audible across the sand flats.

"Dey just sittin deare" an Ork nearby explained to the boss.

"'ave you tried Shooting 'em?"

"Corse we did, but deys too far 'way"

"Oright den, looks like dey want a race" Skaarnak turned around to the gathered crowd of orks "get yer bikez boyz, weez gon kill us sum pointy ears!" the Orks cheered in response and rushed over to the bike yard. Skarnaak followed and mounted his own bike. It was heavily modified, being a tricycle as opposed to a bicycle like the other ones. It was armed with around a dozen shooters and half as many rokkit launchers. A massive engine was situated between the two rear wheels that had cobbled bits of armour covering the most obvious parts and smoke stacks extruding from it.

"'ere we go" he yelled, and the other nobs repeated the chant as they reeved their engines and speed onto the beach.

…

"Told you they would fall for it" Phasmatis nodded.

"You truly are the wisest of all the tacticians on Siam Hann" The Shinning spear to the Autarch's left nodded. Phasmatis failed to pick up on the sarcasm.

"Well, no sense in making it easy for them" The Autarch reeved his jet bike and swung around to the right, speeding up the beach with the rest of the wind riders and Orks following suit.

 _You're doing well_

"I don't need a Mon-Keigh speaking into my mind" he spat.

 _I'm simply relaying what the Farseer is saying_ Sasha assured.

Phasmatis swerved to avoid a washed up twig, which was like a tree to him "Is the gate ready?"

 _As ready as it will ever be_

"The Humans have held up their side of the deal?"

 _Oh yes, it's really quite ingenious_

"You would say that"

 _Just wait and see, Autarch, wait and see_

…

"That's them" I said craning my head to see the massive horde of bike careening towards us.

"Get down, stupid, don't let them see you" Kate scowled and pulled me back behind the bush. We waited for a few more seconds, quietly sitting and awaiting the approach of the Orks. Eventually, the flickering of eldritch energy could be heard and I knew the Webway had activated. The Jetbikes approached, their high pitched whining slowly getting louder.

Then suddenly it cut, and the eldritch flickering stopped. But the Orc bikes could still be heard, bleaching and backfiring, but they had slowed their engines and come to a standstill. Slight voices could be heard yelling and accusing each other.

This was it.

I raced out of my hiding place and over to the tank. Griping the sliding door tightly in my hands, i fumbled slightly before slipping the door into its guide rails and letting go. Within seconds the once empty fish tank now had a couple hundred Orcs and their bikes trapped inside.

 **Finally got that done, so again I am really sorry that this will be slowing down from here on, maybe I might get back into regular updates by Christmas, but for now school and work are applying far too much pressure for that to be feasible.**

 **Also, I spelt Orks incorrectly when in David and Kate's perspective on purpose since no one has yet told them how to spell it properly.**

 **And I'm sorry for the lack of Orks being humorous, I will try and fix that later, but for now they are what they're supposed to be; slightly dim-witted, hulking alien brutes that kill everything un-orky in the most barbaric ways imaginable.**

 **I still appreciate reviews, btw, I just can't stay true to the statement "more reviews = more chapters, faster"**


	9. Da New Boss

**I'm back! A shock I know, it's been almost 5 months since my hiatus began, but I love you guys and the story too much to leave it forever. Because the school is fascist, I won't be able to have regular updates anymore, as shits getting serious. But a few pleasant chapters every now and then is better than nothing, right?**

 **Also I realised that there still is a vote for the faction people want to see introduced next, so go do that I guess, you could single handily make me rewrite my plan!**

 **No but seriously I could bring any faction you guys like in next, it'll be pretty ubiquitous the way I do it.**

 **Thought for the day:** _"Abhor the night, it is the light that endures!" –_ Adeptus Ministorum

++Terra, Sol System, Sol Sector, Segmentum solar++

++015.M3, 19:30, GMT+12++

"They're kind of cute"

"You're kidding right?"

"Of course, I'm kidding these things are disgusting" Kate straightened up and away from the tank. We had most of the other Orks that weren't on bikes rounded up soon after we captured the first lot and stuffed them all inside the tank. We had taken it back to the campsite and placed it in the boot of the car, god knows what we're going to do with it when it's time to head home. It wasn't a pretty site, a seething tide of green monsters all yelling in broken English, shooting their weapons and punching each other. The Imperial Guard found the experience absolutely hilarious and would sometimes place bets when a massive fight broke out, which was regularly. Some of the more analytical minis were taking notes and discussing the behaviour of the Orks, but there wasn't much to discuss other than 'these blokes like fighting a lot', case closed.

But what would I know, I've known these things for little more than an hour and I already want to empty them into the ocean.

The sun was going down now, turning the sky red and tingeing the campground orange. A cool breeze was picking up from the ocean, causing Kate put an arm around me and pulled in closer. We were both wearing summer type clothes, me in an Arsenal t-shirt and black board shorts while Kate was wearing a white bungee singlet with denim short-shorts.

"They may break through eventually" Carter stated when we approached the minis meeting on the bonnet of the car.

"If they do?" I asked.

"We must find a way to contain them and kill them," he said.

"There's no way we could kill them all without suffering losses ourselves" Cynthia replied.

Carter then looked over at me "If only we got to keep our Baneblades"

"There is no way in hell I'm giving you back those tank things"

The General pouted while I turned to the rest of the imperials "Surely you have something in case of a breakout?"

"Not with human technology" Phasmatis sighed "but we could exterminate them quickly and easily"

I sighed "I am not letting you just murder indiscriminately because you can"

"Would you rather we let these alien brutes live?" He asked condescendingly. "You have not lived in the universe they come from, seen the destruction they sow with every step."

"To be fair, they aren't acting too differently from when you guys arrived" this left most of them speechless. They clearly hated being compared with the Orks.

Eventually, Carter spoke up. "If you think they can be reasoned with so much, then go ahead, go talk to one of them". He said it with such a sneer that I impulsively got up and started walking towards the Ork tank.

Even though they were trapped within 5cm of reinforced glass, I could still hear the Orks yelling, fighting and firing their weapons. As I stood over the tank, I looked back to the collection of minis by the car. Though I couldn't make out his face, I could tell Phasmatis was mocking me with his smug fucking smile. So with this in mind, I slammed my fist into the side of the tank.

Literally none of the Orks responded.

I looked distressingly over at Kate. She grinned and mouthed, aren't you supposed to be a soldier?

Thanks, babe, knew I could count on you.

 _Pick the leader_

"What?"

 _The leader_ Sasha continued. Find their 'boss', so to say, you'll have them all listening to you

"Ok then, how do I know which one is the boss," I asked accusingly.

 _Oh that parts easy, just pick the biggest one_

"Oh yeah, it's easy to tell which one that is in the seething mass of greenskins"

 _Ugh, why must you make everything so difficult? How Kate lives with you is beyond me. Fine, I'll levitate the leader so you don't have to do any of the discernment work that is clearly beyond you_

"Thanks?"

 _Whatever_

After a few seconds, one of the Orks slowly lifted above the masses. Most of the Orks immediately around him stopped what they were doing and looked up at him.

"Dat's right ya gits, Gork is on me side!" he laughed. I slide the roof of the tank open slightly, wide enough so I could slip my hand inside and grab the Ork.

"OYE! WOT IN GORKS NAME ARE YA DOIN'?!" he yelled and proceeded to hit my hand repeatedly with his axe. It had been such a long time since any mini had actually hit me and I forgot they hurt, A LOT. I opened my hand in pain and the Ork dropped slightly before being caught by Sasha's invisible hand. She then proceeded to knock the Orks weapons off him and return him to my hand. The Ork resorted to biting my hand, but I was ready for it and clenched my teeth while I lifted him the rest of the way out before slamming the lid shut on the tank. While the Ork continued to gnaw at my hand, I walked over to the group of minis on the bonnet of the car, throwing the Ork into the circle. Every mini immediately drew a weapon and aimed it at the greenskin.

Initially, I bet the Ork was planning to attack, before realising he had no weapons and would probably be killed by the surrounding soldiers if not by my hand, so he meekly put his hands up.

I looked at Phasmatis and smiled. He simply sneered and continued to eye the Ork down the shaft of his spear.

"'Oight" the Ork eventually said, "ya got me, wot do ya want?"

The minis all looked at me, and I, to be honest, had no idea what to say to this thing, so I decided to do what I did the first time around.

"Where did you come from?"

"Aw, dat parts easy dat is…" he scoffed

I raised my eyebrow at the other minis, finally someone who knows where they came from.

"Weez comes from over there" he pointed towards the beach"

"Before that?"

"Aw, then weez were in da forest just over dat 'ill there," he said, slightly adjusting his pointing to the forest past the camping ground

"BEFORE that"

The Ork scratched his head. "well, weez were back on dis 'ere planet foighting all da 'umies and stuff"

"Then what?"

"Den dere was lots of explosions and flashing lights, all purple and all dat, went all ova da place. Den I fell asleep, before waking up over in dat there forest with all da boyz wiff all dis weird giant 'umie stuff lying around too" he looked up at me "Like it was made for you gits"

None of this meant anything to me, but I noticed a few of the other minis nodding in agreement.

"Weez probably would have stayed in da forest if it weren't for da aver un's"

My heart sank.

…

I glanced at David as his face flushed white.

More.

The one thing we didn't want to hear from an Ork.

"What do you mean, 'da aver un's'?" I asked.

The Ork looked over at me

"Aw, you're a roight pretty 'umie aint ya?" he grinned.

I brought my fist down on him almost immediately. Everyone froze. David looked up at me.

"What?" I asked.

"I just remembered why I love you so much" he laughed.

"Well," Phasmatis straightened up and lowered his spear. "There goes our lead"

I lifted my fist. The crumpled body of the Ork lay in the centre of the circle. It was broken in all the wrong ways, oozing with bright crimson blood. It was a thick gooey substance that stuck to my fist. It was also disgusting, so immediately wiped the alien remains on David's shirt. Oh, my god, it was all over the bonnet of my car, and it would probably stain the paint. That's going to take forever to get rid of.

I fucking hate these things even more.

"So, what now?" Carter asked.

"We let Kate go in and punch the Orks into submission" Ventris shrugged.

"I will break you, Space Marine" I growled.

"We should try and follow up on the lead, whatever the Orks were running from it can't be good for us," Forethought said

"How do you work that out?" David asked

"They've never run from us before"

…

"Oye" Skabgor yelled the minute Kates' fist hit Skarnaak. All of the Orks had watched their boss be wrenched from the tank and taken over to the bonnet of the car, before being ultimately crushed by Kate.

"Does, does this mean she's da boss?" an ork further back asked.

"Corse it doesn't, 'umies can be da boss of da boyz, let alone a gurl un. dat doesn't make any sense!" the nob yelled back.

"Well whoz gonna be da boss now?" Dragax asked from Skabgors left.

"Me, obviously, im da biggest"

"No ya not, I am!" another nob called out.

And the entire tank erupted into another brawl.

…

"Should we go get another one?"

"Do you think you can refrain from crushing anymore?" Marcus said, glancing at Kate.

"Ha Ha HA" she mocked, before flicking the terminator off the bonnet of the car.

"You're welcome to try" Sasha shrugged. "But I'm not sure they've decided who they want yet"

She gestured towards the tank, and I followed her point. The tank was now the site of (yet another) massive brawl.

"We could wait" I suggested

Most of the minis burst out laughing. I gave Kate a confused look, and she simply shrugged in response.

"Something funny?"

"David, David…David" Ventris said, making a patting gesture with his hand. "These brawls can go on for days, weeks even"

"There's an entire planet locked in a war over this kind of thing back in our universe" Carter nodded.

"Really?"

"Yup should give you an idea for how long we will be here if we 'just wait'," the commissar said condescendingly.

"Alright, I'll go over there and get another one," I said, turning to the tank.

"Maybe…" Forethought called after me, causing me to turn to him. "Maybe Kate should go over, she just killed their leader and thus would have more legitimacy with the barbarians"

I looked up at Kate and cocked my eyebrow. She bit her lip, a sign she was uncertain. I gave her a reassuring smile, mouthing, you're not that much of a wimp, are you?

This causes her to flip the finger at me and she nodded. "Alright, I'll do it"

With that, she made her way over to the tank.

…

 _Do you know what you're doing?_

 _Of course, I don't,_ I responded

 _Just try and intimidate them_ , Sasha suggested

 _How do I do that?_

 _You just killed their boss, you're practically a god to them_

 _Yay?_

 _Go get 'em, girl_

I rolled my eyes and continued towards the tank. The closer I got the more I noticed some of the Orks on the edge of the tank stop and look at me. I was used to attracting attention from creeps but this was pushing it. I reached the tank and put my hands on the lid. The sound of fighting was still there but noticeably quieter. Just as Forethought had said, they were frightened of me. I opened the tank lid and peered inside. At that point, all the Orks stopped fighting and looked up at me. We stayed like that for a good 30 seconds, just staring at one another.

 _They aren't psychic Kate, you can't just think of them,_ Sasha whispered into my mind.

I cleared my throat "Which one of you is the leader?"

There was a lot of mumbling before one spoke up "Dats Skabgor"

One of the larger Orks closer to the edge looked back "Wot! No, it aint! Dragax is Boss"

"No I aint!" this was then followed by a massive yelling session over who was the leader.

"Alright!" I yelled. "None of you are the leader then?"

The Orks all nodded meekly.

 _Declare yourself leader_ Sasha whispered

 _What?_

 _You killed their boss, which makes you leader_

 _Are you sure?_

 _Not really_

I took a deep breath "Then I'm your leader"

There were a few vocal protests but the majority of the Orks looked far too scared to voice their dissent.

"Any questions?" I asked, silencing those who were still grumbling.

"Yea, I gots one boss" the ork at the front, Skabgor, asked. "Wot do ya want us to do?"

…

Alexander marched down the boarding ramp of the Valkyrie and over to the central basilica. The Imperial Guard was by far the largest faction left at the house and had taken the responsibility of monitoring the house exterior, which Alexander had dubbed 'the defence of the great basilica', a title the Administratum adepts had lapped up eagerly with their auto-quils. Flak batteries, artillery dugouts and other defensive positions were set up at various points around the house, mostly imperial but a few Tau and Eldar positions as well. All reported to Alexander's joint command in the kitchen.

"Report"

"East flank just used the last of its High Explosive rounds" Major Zacharie of the 46th logistical convoy, reported.

"What? Where did the rounds go?" Alexander asked incredulously

"Apparently a Tyranid nest was nearby and they were attempting to neutralise it"

"For the last time, those are ants, not Tyranids" Corish sighed.

"Whatever they are, they soaked up a large chunk of our HE reserves"

"For fucks sake, can we get some competent commanders down there, we don't have unlimited ammo here"

"I'll let them know sir" Zacharie saluted and headed to the vox transponders.

"Have there been any actual threats thus far?" Corish asked.

"Not really, but better safe than sorry" Alexander replied.

"True"

It was at that moment a loud ringing sound blared out across the house in three, sharp bursts.

Corish raised an eyebrow at the imperial commander "One of yours?"

Alexander frowned "Not that I can recall"

"General, this is dugout Theta Orion, do you copy?" one of the transponders crackled

The general rushed over and picked up the receiver.

"This is Alexander, Go ahead Theta Orion"

"More of the titans are at the main entrance to the great basilica"

"More? Can you identify?"

"Negative sir, it is not David or Kate"

"What are they doing?"

"They seem to be just waiting at the door, pressing a button. Should we engage?"

"Absolutely not, I suspect they are simply looking for Kate and David, we shall wait them out"

The Imperial units received all the same orders, cease fire, and the order was repeated to Xeno units. After a couple minutes, the Lady and the Police officer left a note under the door before leaving the property.

…

"Another clan?" I asked.

"Ya, dey got all da fancy bitz and bobz, real rich boyz" Skabgor nodded. I had pulled him out and sat him on the table beside the tank while I quizzed him. Oddly enough all of the Orks inside the tank had gone quiet, scrambling to see what we were talking about.

"Right, and they were the ones that drove you to the beach?"

"Dats roight"

"So they're somewhere in the forest as we speak?"

"Yep"

"Are they doing anything that would result in them being discovered?"

"Wot do ya mean?"

"I…never mind, wait here" I straightened up and left the Ork to his own devices while I went back to talk to David and the others.

"You're doing well" David mused when I re-joined the group.

"Thanks" I smiled smugly at him "So there is another clan" I continued, turning to the minis

All of them groaned collectively.

"What does that mean for us?" David asked.

"It means there is at least twice the number of Orks here than we first thought" Stygian replied.

"Did they say the kind of Ork clan?" Marcus asked.

"According to them, and I quote, 'Real rich 'uns'" I informed him.

Marcus scowled "Bad moons"

"We should go and get them before they make a scene" David suggested.

I looked at him "What are we, their private policemen now?"

"Think about it, if they go out and destroy a bunch of stuff and people get evidence, it will cause mass hysteria, people will get paranoid. We already have a few people noticing something weird about us, your parents are chief amongst them. If this broke into national news, we would be heavily investigated"

"Alright, fine, we'll go and subdue these guys" I sighed.

"If there are twice the number of Orks than we first thought, then we are screwed, so to say" Ventris pointed out

"How so?"

"You're trick with the fish tank, while clever, won't work with these Orks, they are much smarter and also possess a lot of weaponry that is more effective if they don't try and ram us"

"So how should we do it then?"

"Brute strength, the same way you showed these ones whose boss" Carter pointed over at the fish tank filled with the Ork warband, who had returned back to their all-out brawl over nothing.

"We don't have the numbers to pull off something like that" Forethought replied, gesturing around at the few hundred soldiers they had at the camp.

"Why, how narrow-minded of you Xeno" Stygian smirked "We have an entire Ork Warband at our disposal" The Inquisitor grinned and looked up at me.

"Why don't you go rally your soldiers, Miss Alexandris?"

 **So a short chapter, again I'm trying to get into the rhythm of it all after such a long break, so sorry for this mostly dialogue chapter, more action to come.**

 **Much more (laughs** **evilly** **heroically)**


	10. Break and Enter

**Ah ha! You all thought I died! Luckily for you, I'm still here. Yes, I was planning to do some updates over the Winter holidays (that's your summer holidays for the Northern Hemispherical people out there) however I went to visit Vietnam instead, and I have no regrets that place is awesome. It had unfortunate consequences for you guys, but that's okay.**

 **But I'm back (yay) for maybe a few chapters, I don't know exams are closing in and I'm pretty keen to do well. I will endeavour to get back into the swing of things over the summer (that's winter for… oh you get the idea I'm in New Zealand).**

 **In the meantime…**

 _Thought for the day: "You're rich! You're flashy! You 'ave a proppa Orky stoutness about your belly! And you've got more big, shooty, and dead 'ard gear than any 2 other Orks put together. Da uvver clans orta make way for da Bad Moons!" – Bad Moons chant_

++Terra, Sol System, Sol Sector, Segmentum solar++

++015.M3, 19:30, GMT+12++

Justicar Aurelius nodded to one of his brother knights, and they bolted forwards, past the Ork sentry tower and next to where the Justicar stood behind a scrap heap. The Ork Sentry for his part was dozing off. The entire site was blanketed in darkness, which also helped the coalitions scouts, as the Orks had few spotlights of any sort. Sporadic bonfires atop poles illuminated the camp, covering everything in an orange.

The Bad Moons base was a couple dozen meters into the forest, a reasonable distance from the campground for no one to see it but close enough that it could easily be stumbled upon by passers-by. The Ork camp was centred around a Rok that had been converted into a sort of factory, with smokestacks protruding from the asteroids spine, bleaching plumes of smoke. Aurelius noted this down, it had to be neutralised before it aroused suspicion. Various shacks were scattered around it, most had sparks flying out and some were pushing out newly finished buggies and walkers. Ork Boys marched around in typically disorderly fashion.

Overhead, Deffkoptas spluttered around hastily prepared launch pads while Dakkajets and their variants screamed off of runways that were at no point flat. Orks all over the place were beating their axes against the ground, making the ground shake slightly with a low thud each time they connected with the ground, which of course was never actually in time. A huge group had gathered around a ramshackle stage in the southern portion of the camp, where a few larger Orks were yelling out incoherent statements of teef and loot.

"BOYZ!" One of the leaders yelled from the stage, and most of the Orks quietened down, as much as they could quieten down. The one yelling was not the most impressive on stage, and the only way he rivalled the others in size is if you were to include the huge bionic additions on his back.

 _Clearly, a Mek_ Aurelius thought

"We've been getting ready for a few weeks now, and when I told ya all dat when I killed da last boss dat I was gonna get us sum gits to smash, I wosnt lyin'!" All the boys around him cheered.

"When we found da uder boyz, we smashed them cos they wouldn't listen to us! Now dey found sum 'umies! and pointy ears! and blue boyz! Weez Gonna go get em, and smash em roight and propa!"

The Orks howled with laughter and started shooting randomly into the sky, bringing down half a dozen Deffkoptas in the process.

One of the Tau stealth suits took up position next to Aurelius and dropped his field "The Greenskins are getting ready to move out"

The Justicar, recovering from the shock of the Xeno's appearance, simply nodded "We have to warn the others, if David and Kate are to act, they must do so soon"

…

"Why did we leave the gun at home again?" Kate pulled herself closer into me, prompting me to place my arm around her and return the gesture.

"Because it's illegal to just carry rifles around?" I tried. With the sun down, it was significantly colder, as the wind blowing in from the sea kept us shivering. The threat of a nearby Ork menace stopped me from spending an extended period of time rifling through my bags for a jumper. Kate was, of course, more prepared and patient so already had one on.

"I think, considering the current situation, we could have bent that rule slightly" Kate sighed. Before us all the Imperials, Tau and Eldar had gathered the forces present, a number that reached almost 1,000 soldiers. A sizable force, and combined with the Orks who were still in the display tank, our numbers were around 4,000.

How we haven't been caught yet I have no idea.

"Once we have our intel back, we'll be ready and know how to attack them"

Skabgor snorted "Dey won't wait for dat silly clever sneaky stuff to come back"

"What do you want us to do, run in without thinking?" Phasmatis snapped at the Ork.

Skabgor stroked his chin for a second then looked back at the Eldar dead serious "Well…yea"

"Of course you do" the Autarch sighed.

"Look, I think we should just soften them up with a massive Airstrike, then smash them apart with cannonades" Carter stated.

"Right, that'll be real inconspicuous" Kate rolled her eyes.

"Well unless you want to talk them down, I don't think you would do very well in the 'staying low' department" Ventris pointed out.

Before Kate could retort, the scouting party's Dropship returned. The sleek black corvus turned swiftly before opening its rear entrance, allowing the mix of Inquisitorial soldiers, stealth suits and Rangers to disembark.

"Stygian, you have results?" I asked.

"Indeed, David, we found the Orks about 15 klicks north of this location" he beamed.

"15 kilometres!?" I was astonished the Orks had managed to travel so far, and that the inquisitor had found them at that range.

"I think that's in their terms" Kate assured me.

"Right, ok, what were their capabilities like?"

"Extensive" The Tau group leader picked up. "We estimate a couple thousand orks over a 2km2 area."

I had to refine down their estimates to my size before continuing. "Alright, do you think we could match them?"

"If we deployed wisely, and hit before they're ready, we're confident that our coalition could take them down in one fell swoop"

"Excellent"

"That coalition would require Kate's Orks of course."

…

I rolled my eyes. The entire contingent found my relationship with the Ork mob quite hilarious, much to my frustration, and they expected me to be able to rally them to fight a war on our behalf. The minis all looked up at me expectantly, so I acquiesced and turned to walk back over to the display tank.

 _They enjoy fighting, it won't take much convincing Sasha_ whispered. The feeling of the Imperial psyker talking in my mind was less intrusive now, after a few days of her introducing the idea to me, and I was getting much clearer in my responses. It makes me wonder why David doesn't just think back to her instead of talking to himself like a moron.

 _Yea but it's their own kind…_ I started to whisper back

 _Seriously? Your boyfriend was in the ARMY! Which literally only killed OTHER HUMANS!_

I stopped and looked back at my boyfriend, who just gave his stupid grin. It's funny, I never really thought about what he did on tour, I hadn't even asked how many people he had killed.

 _You could find out_

 _Don't toy with me like that, Sasha_ I whispered harshly back

 _Sorry?_ Sasha's voice quipped suddenly, sounding a little startled

 _I'm not going to rake his brains for a kill count_ I affirmed

 _I never said that_

 _What…yes you…_

 _Oh stop procrastinating, now order these boneheads to do something useful._

I sighed and looked down at the Orks, who once again stopped everything and looked up at me. I admit it was kind of nice holding this sort of power over people… or aliens… whatever. Although we had confiscated most of the weapons off the Orks once we stuffed them in the tank, courtesy of the psykers, they still managed to bruise one another with incredible efficiency.

"Alright…boyz" I called. They all immediately looked up at me with anticipation of orders. Well… when I say immediately they took around 30 seconds to stop beating each other up and look to me, which I mean is an improvement on the 5 minutes it normally takes them.

"Who's up for a fight?"

…

"Get down" David hissed. By us he only meant me of course, the Minis were fine where they stood, but they went to ground anyway. I could barely see in through twilight, but I could make out the sprawled figure of David. He was laying down on a dirt bank, sporadically peeking over before ducking back down. I couldn't see, but when he looked back I could tell her had that stupid cocky grin he always wore.

The Minis were surprisingly well organised on the way here. The Imperial Guard's tank columns and gunship wings were the only things they had that kept up with us, the line infantry was unable to keep pace. The other three factions were better equipped, being almost completely mechanised and able to stay in step with us, that and the Ork infantry didn't seem to tire from running all this way. I had to make sure the Orks and the other three branches of the coalition stayed well separate, so we had arranged the formations so David leads, followed by the Tau and Eldar hover tanks, then the imperial mechanised divisions, finishing with me and the Orks tagging along behind. The Imperial Infantry opted to stay in reserve and defend a few supply depots and airfields we set up at the forest edge.

It really only hit me then that these were well-organised militaries (well, except the Orks), they were built for this sort of thing. The minis showed ineptitude in everyday life because they weren't used to it, let alone on such a huge scale. But here, in the dark forests of the coast they were getting ready to do what they hadn't had the opportunity to do in weeks, wage war. It was kind of scary to think about.

Lost in thought, Cynthia had to tap me on the side of the face, causing me to recoil suddenly and nearly plant my foot on a squadron of tanks. I let the Imperial Guard leader ride on me since they were running out of space in their own transporters, not to mention I liked the moxie the marshal displayed, it was a little less fanatic than the sisters. The raven-haired marshal apologised, before indicating me forwards. In the dark, David was trying to motion me forwards, so I carefully stepped over the forward elements of the coalition to talk with him.

"What's up?" I whispered.

"Take a look" he motioned me to peek over the bank, so I did. What I saw I couldn't quite comprehend. When the Orks and Coalition had battled each other on the beach, I thought I had seen the most minis in one place I would ever see, I was wrong. This new Ork mob was twice the size of the one we had just defeated and easily outmatched the total coalition in size. Swathes of Ork boyz rushed around, yelling incoherently and firing their weapons all over the place.

"Ah," I said Intelligently.

"Yea" David nodded.

"There's a lot of them"

"I noticed"

"This isn't going to be fun isn't it?"

"Well if we believe and follow our dreams, anything is possible"

"Now isn't the time" I scolded

…

"We lack our heavy artillery, so a preliminary bombardment is out of the question," Carter said, leaning out of the hatch of his command tank.

"None of this ridiculous number of tanks…"

"It's only like 50, David" the Commissar reasoned. I looked at him blankly.

"…Has artillery on it?" I finished

"Most of the heavy guns we left with the Krieg regiment. The battle cannons of the standard variants could sort of count as artillery, but they are far more effective direct fire"

"We have a few whirlwinds," Ventris said, stroking his chin "But they are more precision munition fire"

"So ideally our preliminary striking capability should be from the air, cause that's all you really have?" I asked. The minis mumbled the affirmative.

"We could get sum…" one of the Orks started before Kate just looked at him and shook her head.

I cursed our decision to pack light on equipment. Such huge gatherings of infantry would have been destroyed by indirect artillery and evened out the numbers before they even knew what hit them.

"Right, we have to hit hard, hit fast, and leave no survivors," I said to the gathering "If any getaway, they'll alert the public and we won't be able to control the reaction. We have the element of surprise, let's crush them right"

…

Vragnad was busy fixing up his Deff dread for the coming fight. This smashing would be the one which proves him as a mek deserving of serving alongside Ironcrushah's elite. While the other boyz were rushing to the Meks speech, Vragnad needed to make sure his dread was in top condition, a concern few of his contemporaries had.

With most of the boys on the other side of the camp, his section was relatively quiet. A few nearby guards on the rokkit launchers were drinking to the coming battle, and grots were punching each other up and fighting over stolen Squigg burgers abandoned by Orks.

Although initially inaudible, the quiet mek started to hear a faint drone, similar to that of imperial jet engines. The mek's initial reaction was one of surprise. How did another mek acquire the engine's that Vragnad had been looking for since they arrived on Novissime II? He ran out of his tent, his head darting around for the engines. The droning was growing louder, but he couldn't see where they were. He started strolling casually around the tents, trying to find them. Surely another Ork had switched them on and left them so he could just take the engines and use them on his own projects.

After a while, he gave up and started walking back to his own tent, when he looked up into the sky and saw neon lights blinking and faint orange rings pulsing.

…

"This is Alpha Zero, Hellstrikes locked and loaded, ready to drop at you command" Flight Lieutenant Simon called from his lead marauder.

"Roger that Alpha Zero, fire at will" Command called back. The Lieutenant grinned.

"Alright boys, lets light this place up" He flipped the arming trigger and pulled the release lever, watching half a dozen missiles streak towards the Ork base, followed by a couple dozen more. The bomber wing banked left and pulled back to the staging ground, leaving the rest of the airstrike to the more manoeuvrable elements of the flotilla.

…

Swathes of land along the eastern perimeter exploded in balls of fire as salvo after salvo from the bomber wing hit their target. Within seconds a full sixth of the Ork population had been burnt to a crisp along with a large portion of its munitions dumps, adding to the already huge explosions.

"Wots going on!" Ironsmashah Demanded, the mek had been knocked off his makeshift stage by the airburst of the missiles and was covered in a thin layer of metallic soot.

"Weez under attack boss!" a nearby Ork announced.

"Doz sneaky gits" the mek cursed. He climbed back up onto the stage. "Boyz looks like we don't have to go anywhere for a foight, da stupid gits came to us" The Orks that got over the initial explosion yelled a triumphant yell and started running to the outer walls preparing for a defence. Ironsmashah looked up at a nearby hill and saw columns of Imperial tanks crawl down towards the main gate.

"Get my special waggons ready, weez gonna need 'em"

…

Carter grinned as he saw dozens of Orks rush to the walls.

"Well, it's working" he chuckled to himself before he slid back inside his turret and closed the hatch. The interior was filled with the sound of the tank treads grinding onwards towards the Ork walls.

"Operator, call sign to all units. Pause and prepare to fire" the operator complied and momentarily the tank shuddered to a halt as the autoloader clicked and whirred while it loaded a shell into the breech. The tanks soon started to take fire from the recovering Ork perimeter defences

"Operator, put all punisher units to the forward of the columns and order them to fire at will on any enemy infantry that tries to move out and engage us at close range. Make sure all Demolishers are ready to push forward into any breach created."

The Operator again started barking orders into his vox, waiting a few moments before calls to the affirmative came back. "We're all good to go sir!" he announced.

"Fire!" The moment the Commissar uttered the order the turret was filled with a roar as the battle cannon fired, followed by dozens of other cannons firing, sending tonnes of munitions into the Ork defences.

…

"Where did you get that?" Kate asked. Following her gaze, I looked down at the baseball bat in my hands.

"This? Oh I found it"

"You stole it"

"I found it" I affirmed

"And that makes it yours?" She asked condescendingly, raising her eyebrows in the annoyingly cute way she does.

I paused for a moment to consider this "I'm borrowing it"

"Whatever" The entire forest suddenly lit up a dark orange and half a dozen bombers screamed overhead back to camp.

"Looks like the fun has begun" I grinned, peaking back over the bank.

"Yay," She celebrated mockingly.

"There go the tanks" I mused, as Carter's divisions rolled down the hill to engage the main entrance.

"Sweet, so that means the Orks should be running into that breach anytime now"

"Do you feel bad you're sending them into the part that is still burning from napalm?"

She thought for a second, then shook her head "not even a little bit"

"Haha, look at those stupid aliens" a small but arrogant voice mused from beside me. I jumped slightly and snapped my head towards him.

"Stygian! What the hell!" I exclaimed

"What?" The Inquisitor asked innocently.

"We're fighting here!"

"No, they are, we are watching"

"Well, 'we' are going to step in when whatever big thing Ventris was talking about shows up" I defended.

Stygian laughed "Well then it will just be me and my men laughing up here then"

"Why aren't you fighting!" Kate demanded

"Pffff, we are Ordo Malleus," the Inquisitor said, rolling his eyes "We don't fight Xenos"

I looked at him blankly "You're kidding"

"Nope, we fight dae…enemies from beyond, nothing else"

I sighed heavily "no wonder your Imperium is stagnating"

…

"Oight boyz, Da new boss says we gon find sum gits ta smash thru dere," Skabgor said, turning back to the mob from atop his trukk.

"Looks pretty hot in dere Skabgor, do ya fink its gon be oight?" one of the nobs said, peeking past the trukk. The east wall had collapsed into a pile of molten slag and areas were still burning from the missile strike. So far no Bad Moonz had returned to plug this obvious gap in the defence.

"Naw weez be fine, we hav da trukks and da bikes! Dey will keep us safe"

"Um, but boss?"

"Enuff of dat nonsense, lets go smash us some gits" The nob yelled out. The other Orks laughed uproariously and clambered onto the nearest vehicles. As smoke bleached out of their exhausts, the collection of ramshackle vehicles reared forwards and smashed out of the undergrowth into the Enemy camp.

…

"We're now directly above them, Shas'O" Pax'are reported, turning to the Commander. The Tau battlesuits were hovering around 200 meters above the Ork camp, along with Falcons, Stormraven's and Valkyries of the other factions. The exhausts of the ships engines were the only light this far up, casting the armour of the vehicles and suits in a strange haze mix of orange and blue.

"Are the other coalition gunships ready?" Forethought asked

"They are, the Imperial ships are of course slightly higher to account for their inferior technology" the commander's secondary reported.

"Excellent" Forethought switched to the collective com-link "on my count we will drop down onto the centre spire"

"What! No on my count!" Phasmatis called back.

"Now is not the time to argue" the Tau commander snarled back over the vox

"Our superior reflexes mean we should be the ones to call the attack" the Eldar insisted.

"We do not have time for this nonsense…" The Commander started to retort before a blur of rusted metal streaked past followed by a hail of bullets that peppered the cloud of coalition aircraft, causing a few to start spiralling downwards and battlesuits to drop like flies.

"Ork interceptors!" An Imperial pilot called, causing the Valkyries to peel off in pursuit.

"No! Stay in Formation and prepare to drop!" Phasmatis yelled.

"The Navy will distract the Ork air force, not like their drop troops would have added much anyway" Ventris called back over his vox channel

"Hey!" Cynthia responded indignantly.

"Now let's make this drop" The Space Marne continued. Before the Xenos could respond the engines of the several storm ravens cut, and the dropships started descending rapidly onto the Ork encampment.

"Well, we can't let the humans win" Forethought mused, watching the steel boxes fall.

"Agreed" Phasmatis replied, and the Battlesuits and Falcons quickly followed suit.

…

Explosions through Orks in all direction as the dozen or so Lemun Russ Battle tanks unloaded into the Ork ranks. Each shot took out another half a dozen boyz, and things were quickly becoming untenable. Those that made it to the gate were cut down by a withering hail of fire from the Punisher tanks, and Ork walkers popped open from precise shots by Eldar Fire Prisms, sending shards of metal shredding through surrounding Ork infantry.

"We can't get close enuff to do enyfing boss!" Smugtakk called back to his nob. The squad of 'ard boyz had taken shelter next to one of the downed sentry posts as bullets whipped overhead. Skugtux was reluctantly in agreement with the smaller, weaker Ork, as he was unable to get close enough to punch the enemies.

"you're just scared ya git" Naskux mocked before vaulting over the plate of metal he was hiding behind and immediately cut to red mist. The predicament was causing a problem for the nob, who had started to develop strange thoughts about how to fix the problem while also preserving the life of his men. Thankfully, before the beginnings of a strategy were formed in the ork's head, a column of the Meks battlewagons came rolling out of the factory complex and started hurtling towards the coalition lines.

"Oight boyz, 'eres our chance!" Skugtux yelled to the surrounding Orks before jumping onto the back deck of the closest battlewagon. The yelled enthusiastically back and started to either jump onto the battlewagons and ride them or fall in behind and run behind to take shelter from cannon fire. Cannon fire was shrugged off by the custom heavy frontal plating the meks had fitted, and the Orks returned fire with equally powerful kanons. Although a few of the Lemun Russ tank treads were damaged and one of the punisher guns was destroyed, the armour of the heavy imperial tanks shrugged off the ork munitions with equal ease. The Eldar hover tanks were less prepared, and one was downed in the initial Ork cannonade before it could turn on its holofields.

The battlewagons smashed aside the crumbling gates and walls of the Ork perimeter and continued through the combined Imperial and Eldar fire. While their guns were doing minimal damage, the gap between the two armoured forces was quickly closed, allowing for the Ork infantry to disembark and attack the coalition tanks at close range.

Skugtux jumped from his vehicle and landed on the turret of the nearest punisher tank. Clinching his power klaw around the barrel, he quickly wrenched upwards, cracking the individual firing chambers of the gatling cannon and bending it out of shape, rendering it useless. The nob then wrenched open the access hatch and poured the remaining clip of his custom blaster into the tank, killing the entire crew and giving the interior a new, faster paint job.

"Sir, I think they've gotten a bit too close now" Lieutenant Allen pointed out from his gunner's position. Carter peered through the commander's sight and observed the carnage.

"Yes I think your quite right, well secondary gunners, pick your targets and kill what you can, I'm sure that we have melee troops on reserve somewhere" the commissar replied, turning to his vox operator as the rattling of heavy bolters filled the tank cabin. "See if we can hail David and report on the situation here and elsewhere, we need reinforcements"

…

"Iz too hot boss!" Skabgor's driver exclaimed.

"Den doesn't go through the fire, ya stupid git" the nob yelled from atop the back of the trukk, slapping the driver on the back of the head.

"But youz said…"

"No I didn't" Skagbor affirmed. He looked back at his column of trukks and bikes "weez gonna afta back up a bit" he relayed to the other vehicles.

"Wot? How do ya expect us to do dat?" one of the trukk drivers yelled back.

The nob had to think for a second, before spotting one of the collapsed walls had formed a sort of ramp. "Weez go over dat, of course!" pointing at the newly discovered route. All the other Orks yelled in celebration, eager to try out the new access route. Orks bikers did 180s and sped back towards the forest, only to once again turn around and speed towards the ramp.

The trukks gear boxes clunked noisily as the vehicles started to reverse disorderly out of the first breach and attempt to get in position to get their heavier chassis over the ramp. Just as the first bikes reached the ramp and started their jump, rival Dakkajets screamed in from the north, strafing the gridlocked Ork column with shoota fire.

Some Ork bikers were hit and were sent tumbling off their mounts, the bikes continuing their trajectory up over into the enemy camp. The bikes exploded in amongst the tents and minor workshops on the eastern flank of the Rok. Other, more successful bikers, however, landed successfully and started tearing up the mostly uninhabited eastern section of the Ork encampment.

"Gun it!" Skabgor yelled as the bad moonz fighters streaked past and started to bank and turn back.

"Wot? Weez need to stop and get in cover!" His driver affirmed. Skabgor leapt down from his position and threw the driver out, taking control of the trukk himself. The Nob slammed his foot down, causing the trukk to lurch ahead of the others. Just as the Dakkajets closed in on the second charge, Skabgor's trukk hit the ramp and flew up off of it.

For a few seconds, the rusted Ork rig gracefully sailed through the sky, suspended in the air above the camp. However, the nob wasn't judging distance and completely overshot his mark. His trukk smashed through one of the exposed panels of the rok while the rest of his mob successfully landed in amongst the Ork camp, gleefully setting about destroying the facility. Dakkajets tried in vain to cut up the infantry following in behind the vehicle vanguard like a green tide.

Skabgor's trukk had burst into a dim, uninhabited room, the vehicle buried nose first into the rolling floor of the auditorium like room. Dazed and confused, Skabgor rolled out of the cab of his trukk and onto what felt like a pile of nails. The nob yelped and quickly propped himself onto the side of his trukk, nursing the side of his body that now had a dozen punctures on it. While the Ork sat recovering from the crash, his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. What he saw almost gave the Ork a heart attack.

Skabgor had landed in teef vault of the wealthy Bad Moonz band.

…

Big mek Ironsmashah chuckled at the sight of his heavy battlewagons hitting the coalition tank lines. Finally, progress was being made in his favour. A grot scampered over and started tugging at his coat. The Mek glanced down at the lowly orkoid.

"Wot?"

"Doz fast boyz, dey back" the grot whimpered.

Ironsmashah laughed and turned to his meganob retinue "Let's show dem what real teef can buy"

At that moment, an Ultramarine Stormraven's retro thrusters fired and the imperial gunship appeared behind the Ork leader, barely slowing its descent enough to hover a couple meters from the ground. The heavy bolter turret on top of the aircraft opened up and starting chewing into the nearby Ork Hordes while other coalition aircraft lowered down next to it.

"Deyz trying a sneak attack, get 'em" the Mek roared, prompting his retinue and accompanying Orks to attack. The boarding ramps of the imperial craft slammed open and Space Marines charged out, their boltguns switched for a bolt pistol and chainsword each. The two factions closed the gap between them and were quickly enveloped in brutal melee. The Marines swung their chainswords in wide arcs, trying to kill as many Orks as possible in order to even out the numbers.

Tau battlesuits swooped in and hovered above the melee, providing fire support to the assaulting marines and raking the area with plasma fire. Eldar hover tanks dropped in next to the Space Marine gunships and disgorged their own shock infantry into the attack. Despite the arrival of the Xenos, the Greenskins still vastly outnumbered the coalition forces, and the noose around their tight knit drop zone was already starting to close ever tighter.

Ventris swung his power sword downwards and cleaved an ork straight in half. Grinning, the captain emptied several bolts into charging nob before rolling out of the way. As he was rolling, however, his leg was crushed between a power klaw and got yanked upwards

"look at wot we got 'ere" on of the meganob's chuckled lifting the marine up so his upside-down head would meet the greenskins face. "Youz the kaptin of deez gits ain't ya"

"Release me Xeno" Ventris roared, swinging his power sword to hit the nob in the exposed neck joint. Before it could connect, however, one of the other nobs reached out with their klaw and severed the captain's arm at the elbow, sending his ancient weapon clattering to the ground.

"Not so tuff now, eh?" the newcomer grinned. Ventris simply snarled through gritted teeth. A group of three meganobs now surrounded the suspended captain, sealing him from the rest of the melee. One of the meganobs looked over to the mek, who had just smashed a marine on the head with his spanner, sending the imperial crumpled to the ground.

"Weez got dere Kaptin" the nob grinned. Looking around at his bodyguard retinue, a grin appeared on Ironsmashah's face. He glanced back around at the battle situation. The Ork assault had hit the tank lines with the help of the meks special battlewagons, most of the sudden drop had been contained and the Red Sunz pouring in from the east were contained mainly by the coalition's own napalm strike. Things were at the tipping point, and the mek knew it could go either way. It was time to bring out his favourite toys.

"Bring em wiff us" the mek cackled with glee "e'll be real noice on my trophy wall. He turned and stalked back into his rok turned workshop, his meganob bodyguard carrying the barely conscious Ventris in with him.

…

I glared at Stygian, who simply smiled back smugly. While David glared straight back at the Inquisitor, I looked past him and saw his Grey Knight retinue shifting where they stood, clearly uneasy at having to stand idly by as the din of battle rolled over the hill. In that moment, David's modified Radio/vox crackled and Carter's voice was heard.

"Governor David, come in David" the Commissar voxed in, his voice shaking in a state of panic. David shot a final look at the inquisitor before picking up the receiver.

"Go ahead Carter, what's the situation?" David replied.

"Sir, we've been engaged in close quarters, we need reserve shock troops or we'll be torn apart"

"Reserves are in short supply here, maybe we could call in some Eldar banshees…"

"We can't afford to wait for their cryptic fucking responses" The commissar yelled back.

David looked over at the Inquisitor, who shook his head. But even as Stygian turned away, his retinue of Grey knights disappeared in a flash of light.


	11. Paradise by the Plasma Light

**BOO! Hahaha, I knew that would scare you. Over a year later and here I am, ready as ever. School is over forever now, and I still have 7 months before I head off to the Navy Academy next year, so maybe I'll get this story finished? It all depends on how much you guys want to see the future of the story. Regardless, its time we close the camping arc and move onto our next antagonist…**

 **Thought for the day:** _"Duty Prevails"_ – Departmento Munitorum

++Terra, Sol System, Sol Sector, Segmentum solar++

++015.M3, 21:45, GMT+12++

Skugtux jumped down from the Punisher tank, grinning as he scanned the Imperial tanks for another one to smash up. Commissar Carter had emerged from the turret of his tank and was trying to direct the infantry that was supporting the tanks.

"Oi You!" The Nob yelled. Carter looked over and the two commanders locked eyes. "Dats a fancy hat yer have 'der, how about yer give it ta me?"

Carter snarled and spun the pintle stubber round to face the Ork while Skugtux started his charge, waving his power klaw over his head as a sort of rallying cry. Other 'ard boyz started charging forth to join their Nob. The Stubber spat bullets at the Orks, but they were far too low calibre to pierce their armour, let alone their tough hide. Just as Skugtux was about to reach the tank and pull it apart, a force Halberd sailed through the air and pierced the Ork straight through the neck. Skugtux's lifeless body went flying and was skewered against a nearby chimera. The Ork boyz stopped for a second, shocked, allowing Justicar Aurelius to cast lightning arcs amongst the remaining boyz, frying them in their own armour. Carter turned to see Aurelius follow his impressive javelin skills with suppressing fire from his storm bolter. A curt nod from the Knight is all the Commissar got, but it was enough to slow Carters racing heart.

The Grey Knights had teleported right in front of a triumvirate of Battlewagons that had charged into the tank lines. With slow, methodical precision, the 15 knights swung their force halberds in large sweeping arcs, cutting several Orks apart at once, sporadically laying down bursts of bolter fire. Recovering their composure, the Leman Russ tanks started firing into the Battlewagons exposed flanks, tearing the flimsy vehicles apart. Aurelius recovered his Force Halberd from the Nobz neck, flopping its massive body to the ground. Around him, the Grey Knights were stemming the charge, though more boyz continued to come through the burst gates.

Suddenly the whole battlefield; Orks, Knights and Guardsmen keeled over as a sonic scream echoed through the ranks. As the Orks withered around on the ground in pain, Howling Banshees dropped from Falcons overhead, decapitating the prone Orks as they landed. Aurelius' armour adjusted to the screams and he watched as the remainder of the Ork charge was cut up by the Eldar warriors. The Banshees Exarch walked over to the Justicar as a lull in the battle ensued and helped him up.

"You performed well, Mon-Keigh" The exarch acknowledged begrudgingly.

"As did you, Xeno" the Knight responded in kind. The Banshee looked back to the Ork camp.

"We have a long way to go until this tide has been stemmed."

"Indeed, perhaps we should drive home our advantage?"

"Agreed, we shall contact the Autar.." The Banshee started, before a loud, creaking, grinding sound, like a rusty garage door being rolled up, was emitted from the Ork factory complex.

…

Big Mek Ironshamshah hobbled up the rickety stairs that had been constructed in the large caverns within his rok. His meganob bodyguards dragged the now unconscious Ventris in tow, making sure to hit him on every step and howling with laughter as they did. Eventually, the Orks reached the top of the stares and crossed a much ricketier bridge to the cockpit of the Ork Gargant. They entered the cramped Ork command centre, Ironsmashah yelling at all the gretchin and grots to start up the war machine. His meganobz tossed the Space Marine Captain against the back of the cockpit, and the Big mek rounded on his prized captive.

"Are ya 'cited space marine?" Ironsmashah grinned as the various furnaces and engines started up all around the Ork Machine. Being unconscious, Ventris did not respond, so Ironsmashah lightly tapped the Captain on the head with his wrench.

The sharp jolt woke Ventris, and he immediately wrinkled his nose up in disgust. "Where am I, Greenskin?". The entrance door started to roll up with a loud, rusty grinding noise.

Ironsmashah finally had the chance to gloat about his brilliant plan and couldn't stop smiling. "Weez on ma new toy, 'da fist uv mork!"

Ventris snarled, "We're on your gargant then?"

"Dats roight, 'da furst gargant us Boyz have had 'n a while"

"Why have you not killed me yet? Why not kill me and be done with it?"

"'cos I want yer ta see all yer friends be shot up by ma gargant" The Orks grin was so wide Ventris could see the remains of its last meal in wedged in its teeth. With that, the main Ork engine started up with loud spluttering noises and the big mek spun round to get to his control panel.

"Alright Boyz, ere we go!" He yelled into the speaking tubes and gunned his throttle forward to the max.

…

I peered over the bank and watched the Grey Knights, together with the Eldar Banshees drop into the Ork assault on the tank lines. After recovering from my burst eardrums, I saw that most of the Orks had been killed or turned around.

"Looks like your friend's intervention worked" I grinned.

Stygian rolled his eyes as he cleaned out his ears "Too soft, these knights, I'll have to see about getting new ones".

"Uh, David, is that the thing Ventris was telling you about?" Kate asked, touching my shoulder and pointing across the battlefield. Sure enough, a small, scrap metal looking construct with cannons stuck to it was waddling from the Ork rock. It looked only a little smaller than the Imperial titan I destroyed the first night but was surrounded by some sort of electrical ball like field. It began spitting munitions at our coalition, and the Orks were all cheering and charging along with their new toy.

"Yes, that does meet his description somewhat" I prepared to stand and charge into the Ork camp, baseball bat in hand.

"If you're just going to go in now and crush it with one of your titan weapons, why didn't you open with that?"

"Because, Inquisitor, if I had then the Orks would have scattered and gotten away, alerting potentially more people about you things. Now we have them caught in battle that I'm told they probably won't leave. In any case, if they try we now have them surrounded"

For the first time the Inquisitor smiled, genuinely impressed, (at least that's what I was hoping he was) "Not bad titan, not bad"

I smirked and looked back over the bank. The Ork machine had blunted the coalitions strike back at the Orks and with our reserves spent threatened to break through. This is it. I nodded at Kate, who looked at me incredulously. I then jumped over the bank and charged at the camp.

It was only about 5 steps away, and I closed the gap so quick I don't think any of the Orks even saw me coming let alone had time to react. I planted one of my feet inside the camp, crushing some Orks and the other over the back of the tank line. I then slipped the shaft of the bat through my two hands, lined up my shot, and swung in a low arc right into the Ork machine. The impact felt like hitting a baseball, and it jarred the bat so much I dropped it. The Ork titan meanwhile appeared unharmed by my bat swing, though its power field was now off and it was flying through the air and into the surrounding forests.

Shit.

…

The sudden disappearance of the gargant and appearance of David in the middle of their camp quickly quelled the cheering of the Bad Moonz Orks. Their pride and joy, as well as their mek boss, was now gone. From the front gate, Imperial tanks trundled over the wreckage of the ruined Ork trukks and battlewagons and fired into the various Ork tents, workshops and huts that dotted the grounds. Eldar hover tanks swooped into the west and started taking out the remainder of the Ork walkers.

From the East, the Red Sunz clan under Kate's direction were tearing up the encampment, running down rival Orks and were starting to pillage the millions of Ork teef that had been discovered by their underboss, Skabgor. And from the wreckage of the downed flyers, the coalitions shock troops started to make breakouts from the centre to meet their allies, Tau battlesuits cutting down huge swathes of confused boyz as Eldar scorpions and assault marines cut Orks down left right and centre. It had all happened so quickly that many just gave up and surrendered, realising that without their toyz and teef, they couldn't be proper Bad Moonz.

Carter's command tank drove over to meet the assault troop. Phasmatis and Forethought were talking like old friends, trading stories about their kills and even some shared moments where their respective firepower and swordplay had saved each other.

"You've done well, Xenos" The Commissar nodded.

"And you Gue'la, a shared victory for the greater good indeed". The commissar reached for his bolt pistol but his arm was steadied by Cynthia, who had ascended his tank and taken a seat on its turret edge.

"Call it what you may, but this fight was definitely something we needed to get the blood flowing," The guardswomen said. All the other commanders nodded in agreement.

"What should we do about the rok?" Phasmatis asked.

"Let's collect some melta weaponry and blow the whole thing, David wants no traces of our activities."

David stepped outside the camp and crouched down close enough the hear what the minis were saying. "You mentioned me?"

"Yes, Governor" Carter saluted. "We were discussing how to get rid of the Ork complex"

David looked at the large structure that was now crawling with looting Red Sun Orks. It was taller than him while he was crouched down, but really only came up to his waist and was no wider than a coffee table. He stroked his chin for a few seconds then looked back at the minis.

"Destroy it"

"Really?" They all replied, dumbfounded the David was supporting their idea to blow something up.

"There's really nothing else we can do, and the small crater this thing will make will be easily explainable in people's mind as a meteorite rather than leaving the full complex here" David straightened up and announced. "I'm going to find that Ork…thing… with the Inquisitor here"

"What was that? No, we aren't!" Stygian complained before Kate scooped him and his retinue up into a small circular container.

Kate walked over and handed it to David, "So he too can get a share of the action. Kate will be in command from here"

…

David winked at me. Yes, thank you, babe, I love it when you just throw things like this over to me. My boyfriend ran off in the direction of the missing Ork machine with his baseball bat in one hand and the container of Inquisition in the other. I sighed and knelt down on the edge of the camp to see the damage. Our enemy Orks, who I could tell from their yellow shirts as opposed to mine who had red shirts, were being rounded up by the coalition troops. Sometimes they fought pushed back which either got them a bullet to the skull from any of the rational races or a small brawl if it was one of my Orks. I had no idea what to say here.

 _How rude of him to just leave you like this._

I know right! He's always going off on adventures with his quick thinking and sharp reflexes.

 _It's almost as if he thinks everyone is just like him._

He thinks I can pull shit out of my ass like he does, but no, I'm sorry David but I didn't spend years fighting as a SAS soldier learning how to deal with battlefield situations. I am a fucking accountant and I prefer to have everything laid out and planned ahead.

 _Away he goes, on the fun parts, while your sitting here cleaning up the mess like the good little girl you are._

I took a deep breath, and let it out shuddering. I was suddenly very mad.

 _Mad enough to do something about it?_

Ok Sasha, stop it now! I thought back.

On the ground in front of me, the Astropath looked up from the salamander she was riding in.

 _I'm sorry, Kate, what was that?_

 _Stop talking into my mind, it gets really annoying sometimes_

 _I haven't been thinking to you at all though_ She replied, and I could feel the hurt and confusion in her response.

 _Ugh, all these psykers must be playing with my head. I'm sorry._

Sasha frowned at me, her misty grey eyes giving nothing away. She simply shook her head, reached into her robes and starting noting something down.

"Ok here's what we're going to do" I spoke up, trying to get that same authority that David had. Luckily all the factions listened to me just as they would with David. "You're all gonna get your best explosives and rig this…thing… up" I gestured around the Ork construct. "Next, we'll round up all the bad Orks…"

"All Orks are bad" I heard Cynthia mumble.

"…and march them back to our camp. Once we're there I'll get a chilly bin or something and we can chuck them in there. Hopefully, David will be back by then and we can get the fuck home"

"Don't we have a couple more nights here, Governess?" Sasha asked aloud.

"I don't care, I'm fucking done with this campsite. I really don't want to stumble across anymore fucking Orks."

…

Ironsmashah groaned as woke in his gargant, thrown against the roof and splayed at all the wrong angles. He started re-cracking his limbs and attempted to lift himself off the ground. The Ork grunted and howled as he repaired himself, tearing out a few loose nails that had annoyingly thrown themselves into the mek. He eventually crawled to what used to be the command window of the gargant and used its smashed-out viewport as a handle with which to stand. Ironsmashah looked around the upside-down cockpit, seeing most of his meganobs crushed within their own armour. The marine was missing, which puzzled the mek as he was sure he had left Ventris at the back of the cockpit when they started moving.

Ventris didn't give the mek much time to ponder, as he fired dozens of rounds into Ironsmashah with his own mega blaster until the Ork pistol destroyed itself. The Ultramarine Captain collapsed against the entrance way, the fall had thrown him out of the cockpit and into the elevator well, allowing him to get the jump on the injured Big Mek. Just as he started to regain his bearings and prepare to find a way out, the entire gargant was lifted up.

John, the camp owner, had started walking towards the forest to the north of his camp when he thought he heard explosions. The explosions had distracted him from his evening whiskey, and he was not really in the mood for any campers setting off fireworks this time of year and this time of the night. He had spotted the strange object lying on the gravel path to the beach as he made his way to the forest, and picked up for close inspection. He examined the spiky, metal, toy looking construct. It looked like some sort of demented doll, with uneven eyes on a tiny head and large gun looking things sticking from its shoulders, arm sockets and belly. Just as he was starting to pear a little closer at the machine, a wooden bat came out of nowhere and struck him on the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.

…

I shouldn't have done that.

I was now MAIMING people for these minis. What the fuck is wrong with me.

I thought I had killed him by the way he just collapsed on the ground. Luckily, he was still breathing, so I turned my attention on the Ork Gargant for the time being. It looked like it had gotten dented and broken from its fall, but that energy field must have absorbed all my swing. A shame, that was a really good hit.

I knelt down and leant on my bat as I emptied the inquisitor and his aides onto the ground next to the dropped gargant.

"Was it really necessary to place us in that container?" Stygian asked, annoyed at what I thought was very generous transportation.

"Absolutely, now get in there and make sure all those Orks are dead, I don't want any scampering off to cause more havoc" The Inquisitor huffed and he entered the gargant with his force sword in hand and stormtroopers following behind. I took the chance to take a deep breath and gather what had just happened. In the space of the 5 hours we had been at this camp, we had taken on two Ork warbands and subdued them both. Incredible all things considered.

I heard a groan from the gargant and looked down to see little blue soldier drag himself out of the eye of the machine.

"Ventris" I grinned. The ultramarine was covered in blood, dirt and oil, was missing his right arm and generally looked exhausted. I was surprised he was still breathing but of course, these minis were constantly doing shit that surprised me so I just kind of accepted it.

"David, never thought it would be so good to see you" the Space Marine replied, finally smiling at me after all these weeks.

"Likewise, you look like you've had quite the adventure"

"That's one way to describe it" the Captain collapsed on the face of the gargant so I picked him up and placed him on my palm. "Are we victorious then?" he gasped, lying on his back, splayed across my hand.

"More or less, I think the others are destroying the camp as we speak. We've contained the rest of them, no way they'll be causing any more havoc"

Ventris paused for a moment. "Tell me, David, do you have any promethium?"

"You mean petrol? Yea we could syphon some out of the car, why?"

"Burn the whole area"

"What?"

"If we don't, they'll be back in a few months causing yet more trouble, we have to burn the whole area of the Ork encampment"

I contemplated this. How would we burn a whole area of the forest without burning the whole thing down? Stygian and his crew emerged from the gargant while I was pondering and announced the absence of live Orks inside…any more. I nodded absent-minded, trying to formulate how we would glass the Ork area.

"What is the matter with the titan?"

"We're trying to figure out how to cleanse the Ork area of spores without burning down the forest" I replied.

"Oh, that's easy, we'll just exterminatus it and then… oh wait, that might not be possible"

"You think?" Ventris replied sarcastically.

"Indeed, Space Marine, we lack our Black ships to pull that one off. Never mind, the Orks usually have their unstable warp reactors in their roks, we could just detonate those and send them and a good chunk of the surrounding area into the warp"

"What do you mean 'into the warp'" I asked.

"It is a means of interstellar travel, the vessel will disappear into another dimension and come out at a different place thousands of light years away, if it comes out at all since the vessel wouldn't have any crew," Stygian explained.

"Do you think it would work in atmosphere, Inquisitor?" Ventris asked sceptically.

"I do believe it would, I have seen similar occurrences on worlds before"

"Its worth a shot, using petrol to just burn the place seems a little extreme and very uncontrollable" I reasoned.

"What about this other titan" Ventris asked.

"We should kill him" Stygian responded immediately "He knows too much"

"I'm not killing anyone, Stygian" I scowled. "I'll take him back to the camp reception and leave him on the ground there. Hopefully, he just plays it off as a bad dream" I knelt down and examined his head, no blood. I could clearly smell the whiskey on his breath, so playing this off wouldn't be as hard as I had feared. I picked up the camp owner and threw him over my shoulder, thanking God that he wasn't too heavy to lift.

++015.M3, 22:30, GMT+12++

I had just finished pushing the last of the Orks into our chilly bins when David returned. I pushed the reaming chilli bin back into the boot of the car and slammed the door. I Had managed to coax my Orks into getting into their fish tank after I promised them we were going for a ride in 'our wagon'. This got them irrationally excited and had clambered into the tank willingly with all their bikes and trukks. Needless to say, it was very cramped but they still enjoyed it somehow.

I was nursing my hand from all the bite marks that dotted my hand and came over and pulling me in for a hug. My anger at him had dissipated, and I embraced him back.

"You ok?" he whispered in my ear.

"As much as one can be after something like that" I replied. He pushed me back slightly, examining my face before pulling me in for a long kiss.

Stygian coughed from David's shoulder. "Ahem, Governors? We should head out and detonate the warp drives on the Rok"

David and I disengaged, "Take some planes, I think the others are getting ready to blow it up".

Stygian nodded and he hopped onto his jet-black Valkyrie and flew off.

"I suppose you don't want to stay the rest of the week?" David asked mockingly.

I punched him lightly on the shoulder "Not in a million years"

"Let's take down this tent now then, we won't be back home before midnight otherwise" he laughed and walked over to our shoddily erected accommodation.

"How much damage do you think the minis caused while we were away?" I mused.

"It's been what, 12 hours? How much could they possibly have done?"

I looked at him, deadpanned, and he just laughed.

"Where are we going to put the Orks at home anyway?" I asked as I starting pulling out the guide wires.

"We still have the basement" David pointed out.

"Ew, I hate the basement" I shuddered.

"Yes, I know, and that's why it won't matter if we put those warmongering things down there"

I thought for a second. "That's true, I swear we can't keep going around adopting anymore of these mini things."

"We still have the attic" He grinned.

I scowled at him. There's no way there were any more of these things out there, we would know by now.

…

Helen drummed her fingers nervously on the Police captains desk as she awaited his return. The captain's office was typical for someone of his rank, one wall lined with shelves filled with ring binders and filing cabinets. Another wall with all his accolades and pictures with famous people. The other two walls were glass walls facing the rest of the office. A rather plain, uninspired room. Helen was an interior designer and could design something a million times better overnight.

 _He's probably laughing at you for this behind your back._

The captain walked into the office with a very thin folder, placing this on the desk before taking his seat.

 _Here we go_

"Helen, I'm sorry but we're going to have to close this for now" The Captain explained.

"You mean you're going to throw it out"

"I didn't say that…"

"Oh right, so you're going to return to this case first thing tomorrow morning?"

"There's a lot of cases we need to address here…"

"Are you fucking kidding me, Arnold? You saw those…things in that man's car!"

"I don't know what I saw, the only reason I followed it up with you was because of the way he drove off, tires screeching and speeding on centre city road" Arnold replied.

 _That and you fucked the weekend his wife went away_

"But he is a war hero by all accounts of his file, not a smudge on his record, a spec of dirt to his name. We left a note at his house as a note on his speeding and we'll follow that up"

"What about those THINGS!" Helen demanded, leaping out of her chair.

"Helen, calm down" the captain pleaded.

 _He's ignoring the real issues at hand_

"NO! you're letting this go and making me seem like I'm crazy, but I know what I saw and if you're not going to help me ill sort something out myself" Helen grabbed her handbag and stormed out of the office. No one attempted to follow or stop her the whole way out. She reached her car, fumbling with the keys as she tried to get in. Finally opening the door, she got in the driver's seat, slammed the door and started crying. She sat there for a good few minutes, letting the tears stream down her face.

 _I bet he'll start telling everyone about this now_

Helen eventually started the car and sped out of the underground car park, onto the road and off to her home. She thought about her book club meeting the last night. How they had snickered when they heard Clair had lost her job at the accountancy firm, being replaced by some young blonde upstart.

 _Just imagine what they'll say about you. 'She's losing the plot since her husband died'_

Helen let her foot slip forward on the accelerator and she sped up along the motorway, passing other cars travelling the speed limit.

 _They'll say 'She's fucking other people's husbands, hallucinating about fairy people…'_

She ran a red light on the way home, barely avoiding getting hit. She didn't even care as horns blared, she suddenly felt the need to get home.

' _I feel sorry for her daughter'_

Helen took the corner onto her street so fast she knocked over the gnome that the Fitzgerald's had sitting outside, the one she found ugly and an affront to the suburbs aesthetic.

 _They'll want to take her away, send her to child services because they don't think you're sane enough to look after her._

Helen parked on her drive at a horrible angle, almost taking out the fence as she did so. She got out of the car and slammed the door. She stormed inside, not even caring that she had left her nice 2014 C-class Mercedes unlocked and outside. She half ran to the downstairs bathroom, feeling the need to throw up.

 _But what do they know? They're just jealous of you, they've always been jealous of you_

She flung the door open and stumbled towards the toilet, dry reaching into the bowl.

 _You've kept the body after all these years, you've built a successful business, you've survived your husband's death._

Helen wiped the spittle from her mouth and dragged herself to the mirror. Her mascara was running down her face, her foundation was cracking and her lipstick had been smeared.

 _You're almost perfect_

"WHO ARE YOU!" She screamed.

 _Almost…_

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

A small figure stepped out of the mirror. It was clad in knight-like armour that was coloured a strange purple/pink colour and covered a staff that appeared the wither like a snake. Purple tinged smoke oozed from the slits in its armour.

"Very well" It spoke in a voice that sounded like many speaking, whispering and yelling at once.

"You're…you're one of those things" Helen trembled, her knees going weak and bring her head down to the minis level.

It chuckled a twisted sort of laugh. "Yes…I am, but unlike those other things, I'm about to make your life much better"

"Re…really?"

"In fact, I'd go as far as to say… perfect"

 **More reviews = more chapters, faster**


	12. Drunk on Power

**Yes, now we're picking up steam. I'm going to be taking another one of Rouge psykers ideas here (and for that I'm sorry I know how annoying it is to have your ideas taken) and bring in the mind field for the two characters. How they interact on this plain will be different for each of them though…**

 **Thought for the Day:** _"Fear not the creatures of the jungle but those that lurk within your mind"_ – Scholastica Psykana

++Terra, Sol System, Sol Sector, Segmentum solar++

++015.M3, 01:30, GMT+12++

We arrived home well past midnight. After unloading the car (well, we kind of just opened the door, let the minis out and called it a day) Kate and I crawled up the stairs and off to bed. It had been such a long day we didn't even bother to make sure the minis were alright.

It had been such a long day we forgot to put the Orks in the basement

…

Grace was meditating in the halls of their wraith bone temple when David and Kate returned. The titans lumbered up the stairs and Grace was unable to catch them before they went to bed. Knowing that the titans would react extremely badly if she woke them, Grace sought out Sasha. The returning armies were moving back to their respective bases, sharing stories of the 'Great Ork War' they had just taken part in with their increasingly jealous comrades. In the living room, the Commanders had met up in the neutral territory of the coffee table to discuss their next moves.

The mechanicus had constructed a large circular table from 'old' CD discs, and fitted a variety of projectors and sensors to it. It provided an excellent command station for the heads of the militaries, especially for the guard who have been seen trying to take it for themselves. It also doubled as a way to meet and coordinate in a civilised manner.

"I believe the Governor and Governess are exhausted" Cynthia commented when Grace walked over and took her seat at the disc. The Farseer removed her helm and placed it on the typing panel in front of her, allowing her silky red hair to flow freely. From the middle projector, pict captures of the recent battle flickered, showing just how effectively the militaries were able to cooperate in a battlefield environment.

"We'll have to finish unloading without them then" Alexander replied. "The Logistics convoy can bring the tanks back up overnight"

"Any issues on the perimeter?" Marcus asked, looking to the Imperial commanders.

"Nothing of note" Corish snapped. The Dark Angel had been very bitter over missing on the Ork crusade, and brooded at the edge of the circle, glowering from under his hood.

"We did see some other giant humans drop something at the door before leaving" Grace mused.

"Really? Was it something interesting?" Phasmatis queried.

The Eldar shrugged, "We don't know, the Sisters burnt it as soon as it was passed under the door"

"It was heretical parchment demanding fees from our most holy governor" Vanessa affirmed, her pouting expressing oddly framed by the Sisters bone white gothic style armour.

"That solves that problem, now the next one, the Orks" Marcus scowled.

"Where are these Orks?" Alexander asked.

"They're still in the vehicle of the Governor" Carter replied.

"I see, do you think they'll be alright in there?"

"No, but that's not unusual for an Ork"

…

Skabgor waited patiently for his warboss to return. She had opened the boot and walked off. The Ork had presumed this was to get something, she would soon return to take out the Orks. She had to, no boss would forget about their warband. The boyz had an absolute blast in the 'big trukk' that belonged to their new warboss. Even if they couldn't see outside, they could feel they were going fast, and they could hear the impressive engine even from inside their tank. The Orks were very keen to ride in it again, and again, and again.

But almost an hour passed and nothing changed. The other Orks were already punching each other up, pushing each other off their bikes and smashing one another against the glass. Skabgor frowned. Why would their new boss leave them like this? He pondered this for a few seconds until one of the boys was reeving their bike up and dropped it off neutral into gear. It slammed against the glass and caused a massive crack to spread across the glass. Skabgor finally realised why they had been left here.

"Oi Boyz!" The underboss roared. Some of the Orks turned to face him "i fink i know why da boss left us ere! dey want us ta break out an' prove our strengff. Dey want us ta improve 'da trukk so we kan go for annuver go tomorrow!". The Orks that heard him started cheering and attacking the walls. The other Orks were initially confused, but then got swept up in the excitement and started hitting things at random. With so many tiny impacts hitting the already cracked surface, it didn't take long for the glass to shatter, pouring glass shards and startled Orks from the open boot of the car.

…

"We should celebrate!" Alexander declared, standing abruptly and pushing his chair back over.

"And how do you want to do that?" Phasmatis replied, raising an eyebrow at the Imperial General.

Alexander turned to Carter "How much liquor rations do we have left?"

"Literally zero, general" Carter replied, deflated.

"I see" The General stroked his goatee, pondering the situation. "Does the Governor and Governess possess alcohol?" he asked the gathering. They all thought for a while.

"Over there" Stygian looked up from being deep in thought. He stood and pointed at an old oak cabinet next to the entrance to the kitchen. "I can sense it with my mind, great containers of various alcohols" the Inquisitor had a massive grin plastered across his face.

"I do not know about this inquisitor" Vanessa cautioned. "These do belong to the Governor and Governess, and that containment facility has been established to be locked"

"Bah" the Inquisitor waved his hand dismissively at the battle sister "It is only wooden, if they really wanted to keep us out, they would have constructed it out of adamantium. Quartermaster!"

Tenebrae jolted up suddenly from being slumped over the disc-table, clearly asleep under his mask. "Inquisitor" he replied sleepily.

"Get your Hades tanks ready, we're getting some celebratory drinks!". The rest of the leaders cheered and started getting their own siege forces ready in case the alcohol was well protected. In the chaos, Sasha pulls Grace away from the disc and over to the edge of the coffee table.

"Ugh, Ok, ok miss Mon-Keigh that's enough" the Farseer flailed her arms and the Astropath let go. Sasha blushed as she spun to face her, slightly flustered.

"F-farseer…we need to discuss what's going on with Kate" Sasha stumbled over her words. The Astropath was looking pleadingly up at the Farseer with her unseeing grey eyes. The human was naturally much shorter than the Eldar, almost two feet shorter. She was also flushing very red, almost unnaturally so.

"Well, I'm fine with missing our comrades get shit faced," Grace looked past the Astropath and watched the commanders race to their transports in their attempt to break the alcohol cabinet first.

"Ok, Farseer, my fellow Imperial psykers won't accept this, but I think chaos may be whispering to Kate"

Grace was stunned for a second. Of course. Kate is only human, and the activity of all the trained psykers would have caught the eyes of daemons and made an untrained psyker like Kate very attractive a target. If she had attracted the attention of a Daemon, it would only take a matter of time for Chaos to find the rest of them and snuff them out.

"That…yes that makes sense, she is very powerful" Grace nodded.

"David is in a way very lucky to have her, she masks him almost entirely" Sasha noted.

Grace looked across the living room and up the stairwell. "Indeed, but if they get her, it will take no time at all for them to catch him as well"

"She needs sanctioning" Sasha affirmed.

"Its too late for that, she needs training"

…

The sun shone bright in the bright blue mid-afternoon sky. It glinted across the glass like ocean, occasional ripples from jumping fish the only thing that disturbed the flat. Kate was sprawled out on her beach towel, trying to turn her milky white skin into something far darker. She was wearing that crimson bikini that…that…that someone she loved really liked, but for the life of her their name escaped her.

She didn't care. The sun was bright but not burning. Not a cloud in the sky, not a breath of wind in the air. The sea lapped at the beach in a calm, consistent beat against the idyllic white sand she was sprawled on. Kate dug her hands into the sand at her sides. It was warm, but not burning like the sand on Oriental Bay. Her long blonde hair reflected the sunshine perfectly, and Kate appeared to have a golden halo around her head as she lay. She sat up. Not a person in sight, no one to see her enjoying what might be the most perfect place on earth.

 _Take it off, who's going to see?_

She untied her bikini top and let her naked chest absorb the rays. She considered slipping her bottoms off so she could get a perfectly even tone before she heard the sound of sand shifting. She spun lazily to see two rob clad individuals approach her. She smiled and gave them a wave, not caring if they could see her breasts in full view. They stopped a few metres away gasping. Kate giggled.

"I don't bite" she mocked.

"Governess is this really appropriate?"

A torrent of memories struck Kate all at once. She suddenly recognised Sasha in her tan imperial robes adorned with dozens of purity seals. She saw Grace clad in her red, black and white Siam Han armour, flickering with ancient runes. Sasha's face was one of shock, and the Farseer had to take off her helm and rub her eyes before doing a double take at Kate.

Kate looked down at her chest and let out a high-pitched scream. She scrambled for her beach towel and held it meekly across her body, hanging her head.

"H-hey guys" She stammered. "What's up?". Kate glanced up and saw that Sasha was the same height as her. Grace stood a full two feet taller than her.

"OH MY GOD WHAT!" She screamed and fell back onto the sand.

"Kate please calm down" Grace tried.

"WHAT HAPPENED!? YOU GUYS GREW!?" Kate demanded, jumping up, still holding the towel tight around her.

"No, no, my dear this is your dreamscape" Grace gestured around her.

Kate looked blankly at the Eldar "What have you been smoking while we were away?"

"I'm sorry?"

"We can stop this stupid simulation now you guys" Kate called out to nobody in particular. The Eldar and the Astropath glanced at each other, concerned.

"Are you alright governess?" Sasha asked.

Kate looked back at them, frowning. "This isn't a joke?"

"It wouldn't be a very funny one if it was" Grace pointed out.

Kate thought for a second, shrugged and sat back down on the beach. The two psykers slowly approached her, careful not to upset her too much inside her own mind.

"This is all in my head?" Kate asked eventually, staring out across her bay.

"Yes, this is a dream sequence within your own mind. Though as a psyker everything here is far more enhanced, you have almost complete control in here" Grace explained.

"So, it's like a lucid dream then?"

"A lucid dream is what normal humans have when in contact with their psychic side. They aren't able to do anything normally but occasionally their will power manifests itself and they can manipulate things within their own minds" Sasha stated "For most psykers, the mind is the beginning and then end of their powers. If they cannot master their own mind and control their power, they will never be able to manipulate reality and the immaterium"

"What happens if they can't master their mind?"

"If they are weak, they'll just have more lucid dreams, nightmares, strange phenomena that have no real implications but are almost unexplainable. For the strong, well...They usually get preyed upon, driven insane and possessed by…" Grace started before Sasha held out her arm and touched Grace's shoulder.

"There's no need to get into that now" the Astropath stressed.

"Ok…so what now? I'm a psyker then?"

"Yes, and a very powerful one at that"

"How do you know, I've never had any powers" Kate huffed, shaking her head unconvinced.

"That's because you are untrained, and you've never had any other psykers around prodding your mind"

"Right, that means me becoming a psyker is all your fault"

"Not ours per say…" Grace began before Sasha clamped her hand over the Farseer's mouth.

"What are you DOING!?" the Astropath hissed.

"Let me go Mon-Keigh! She deserves to know about chaos" Grace squirmed.

"No! I don't know about the Eldar but for humans Chaos is a need to know basis, and Kate doesn't need to know until she's finished her training"

"I learnt about Chaos at a tenth of her age!" Grace whispered back harshly. "She's double my power at that age and she if we don't train her on the knowledge of Chaos she'll only fall faster.

"You know I can hear almost everything you're saying right?" Kate pointed out

"ANYWAY" Sasha glared at the Farseer. The Eldar looked back innocently. "We could start with some basic mind summoning, this shouldn't be too hard" Sasha looked around "I mean, you've created this almost perfect beach her for yourself"

"Almost too perfect" Grace noted.

"Try summoning something you know"

"Like David?"

"NO! No, unless you understand he exact biological makeup of him I think you should not do that. Try something basic, objects are easy." Grace insisted.

Kate thought for a while, then she closed her eyes and held out her hands in a cradle position. A bottle for champagne appeared in her hands. Her eyes bolted open.

"Oh, this is fantastic!" she squealed.

"Now Governess, lets start with small objects before we work our way up to the…bigger…ones" Sasha started before Kate summoned a large, white sailing yacht in the bay in front of her.

…

"Have ya found 'da enjin yet?" Skabgor called to the circling deffkoptas

"Noth'n yet boss" they called down. Skabgor growled. The Orks had been pulling apart the car for the last hour trying to track down the engine the meks so gleefully looked forward to 'enhancing'. They had chanced upon a bucket of red paint and were now attempting to apply it all over. They were not making good progress, and had only managed a small batch on the bonnet. Skabgor stomped around as his painters slapped small amount of paint down, trying to figure out how they could find the engine. As a deff dread put a buzz saw through the left rear vision mirror, some gretchin scurried up to the warboss.

"Uh, boss?" one called meekly.

Skabgor looked down at the gretchin disgustedly "wot do yer want?"

"We've found a pipe 'dat leads ta 'da enjin we fink"

"Really"

"Yes boss, kome wit' us" the gretchin gestured and they all started scurrying along the edge of the wind screen and off the side. The Warboss frowned. One of the gretchin looked back and gestured the for the boss to follow. Skabgor shrugged and lumbered after them. The gretchin clambered along the groves in the car panels. Realising he couldn't follow, Skabgor gestured to a nearby deffkopta.

"Ya boss?" They asked before he kicked the Ork off and took the helicopter for himself and followed the smaller orkoids. They rounded the rear of the car and all gathered around a large circular tube that protruded from the bumper.

The warboss bought his deffkopta in closer. "Dis is it?

"Yup boss"

Skabgor dismounted the deffkopta onto the pipe and let it spin to the floor of the garage. The boss was able to move through the pipe with ease, though the heavier equipment would not be able to fit. He ran his hand along the wall and dried oil blacked his palm as he did. Skabgor brought his hand to his face, rubbed his fingers together and inhaled deeply with his nose.

"smells like petrool" He turned to the gretchin gathered around the entrance. "Get da meks, weez gonna follow dis to da end and find da enjin!"

…

I squinted through my hand-held scope. On the other end was an insurgent hefting an RPG-7. 30 kilometres east of Kabul and the Taliban was still able to use weapons like that in the open? Clearly something was up. I folded down the bi-pod of my rifle and nestled it in my shoulder. Around me, my squad was also taking up similar sniping positions in amongst the rocks. I settled my crosshairs on the one with the launcher when a strange voice spoke up to my left.

"You're quite good at this, you know, fighting?"

I swung round and pulled my sidearm Beretta on the man. "Hands where I can see them"

The man held his hands in the air, splayed them and waved them slightly. "Unarmed, not that it would mean much"

"I'm sorry?" I growled. I got a good look at the man with his hands up and body turned towards me. He was crouched amongst the rocks, but showed no attempt at camouflage. He wore a navy-blue blazer, an open buttoned burgundy top and light blue skinny jeans. He had slicked back brown hair and I could swear I had seen his face somewhere, but the harder I tried to remember nothing came to mind. He smiled.

"It's strange you chose this as a happy place, the war zone you spent years despising."

"You think I want to be here?" I snarled, cocking my pistol.

"Clearly, this is your dreamscape after all"

"My…what? This is Afghanistan you loon"

"Oh no its not" The man raised his hand and clicked his fingers. Everything went completely white. We were suddenly not on an incline, we were just standing on nothing, under nothing, between nothing. I collapsed on the…not ground, hyperventilating from the sudden change in environment.

"That was easier than I expected, but I guess you are confused" The man wondered.

"Who are you?" I managed, craning my neck to look at him. He crouched down and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"That's not really important, at least not yet. But, my friend, we have a serious problem that I'm going to need your help with"

"Why would I…"

"Glad you're paying attention. Your girlfriend is…well she's one of my daughters to put It quite simply"

I looked at this man incredulously. "You're not Alan, Alan hates me and he's also way older than you"

"Alan is not your girlfriends father. He is her adopted father, I assume her mother simply pulled him in after I left"

"Wo wo wo wo. Slow down, you fucked Beth?" I then started laughing uncontrollably, annoying the man.

"Yes, in order to create children, you do in fact 'fuck', are you done?"

"I'm sorry" I managed in between chuckles "It's just, she is so disgusting"

"She looked a lot more like Kate when she was younger" The man smirked. That shut me up.

"Ok, let's say she's your daughter, that still doesn't explain any of this" I gestured around me.

"And nor will it. This is all quite irrelevant to you my friend"

"Right, this clearly has nothing to do with me since it's my 'dream scape'"

"Can you take this seriously, David? This is about your girlfriend's soul"

"I…see"

"Your girlfriend is in great danger, I need you to protect her like nothing you've protected before"

"Of course,"

"I'm serous David, if something happens to her…"

"Nothing will happen to her while I'm still here" I affirmed. The man smiled back at me.

"Your selflessness is truly inspiring, if only all of us were like you. But I'm afraid you might need a little more than bravado to save her. Should she need you to, would you die for her?"

"Absolutely"

"Are you sure?"

"Look, I don't know who you are, but I served my country for 4 years in the NZSAS. I would gladly give my life so others can live, and that applies more so to Kate than anyone else."

"It makes me feel better to hear you say that" he placed his hand to my head and a sudden pulse was emitted, pushing me back slightly. I shook my head and rubbed where he had touched me.

"What exactly am I protecting her from?"

"You'll know it when you see it, but if you are not absolute in your resolve to defend her, or indeed yourself from its power then…"

"Like I said, I will lay down my life for her" I insisted.

"Thank you, David" He stood "Now, I must get going, I have a conference to attend. We will see each other again, closer to the time" he started walking into the white.

"Wait!" I bolted up. "If she's your daughter, and you're so…powerful? Why don't you save her? Why use me at all?"

"Because if I were to contact her I'd light her up like nothing else. You are the one that must protect her in the weeks to come, you'll do a better job with what I gave you. Besides, I have my own projects for humanity. It is time man stopped looking to the ground for power, and it's time we looked to the next frontier." He winked, and then disappeared with a soft pop.

Next thing I knew I woke to a violent crash from downstairs.

…

I looked back at the two psykers.

"What?"

Sasha simply shook her head and Grace sighed.

"I'm doing well, aren't I?"

"You're too eager to prove yourself" Grace explained. "You are letting your emotions take almost complete control of what you create"

"How so?" I huffed.

"Seriously, take a look at what you've made"

I turned around and observed the huge resort complex I had erected. A reflection of the locations seen on the Greek islands, the building was pristine white sandstone, blue tile rooves and orange paving stones. It was perfectly symmetrical, two wings supported by marble pillars extended into the bay, both identical with the exact same dimensions. Not a single brick was out of place, not a single imperfection in the cladding.

"What's wrong with it?"

"What isn't is the better question" Grace placed a hand on my shoulder and pulled me around to face her. It was strange looking up at the figure that normally was barely taller than an inch. She squinted as she looked into my eyes.

"I've never seen one this powerful"

"There's something about her that's for sure" Sasha agreed, "That's why they want her so much"

Grace nodded, let my shoulder go and stroked her chin. "They need her for something… though I'm not quite sure what"

"Who are they?" I asked, looking between my two mentors.

Grace opened her mouth to respond, but Sasha scowled at the Farseer and shook her head furiously. She sighed and looked back at me

"You shall learn in good time, child" the Eldar smiled, reaching out and placing a finger on my forehead.

I gasped. Suddenly I was awake, lying in my bed. The bedroom door closed softly and I turned to the empty space that usually held my boyfriend. I could hear the smashing of glass and aluminium crashing, along with the panicked footsteps of my boyfriend.

…

I leaped from my bed and grabbed my rifle that I had kept leaning against my bedside table. To my surprise, Kate didn't jump up with me. I turned around and raised my eyebrow at her sleeping form. I decided against waking her, figuring whatever issue it was I could easily handle. I opened the door quietly and closed it. I heard yet another crash, and I could tell it was coming from the Garage.

Oh fuck, the Orks. I ran full speed down the stairs, spun round the stair rail, across the living room, past the front door and swung the garage door open.

Crawling across the bonnet were those meka dread things the Orks cobbled together, and they were tearing up panels so that Ork boys carrying what appeared to be blowtorches could rush inside. They were discarding the torn-up bonnet pieces against the wall of the garage and making the loud crashing noises. Additionally, they had smashed holes in the windscreen and were rushing inside, pulling up the dashboard, upholstery and leather and dragging it outside to add to their growing collection of loot atop of their vehicles.

Additionally, some of the boys were carrying small buckets of paint they had drawn from my red bucket of paint on the ground and throwing that all over the bonnet as well. Though all this created was a bunch of freckles smattered across the front of the once glossy grey BMW.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" I yelled. Those that weren't busy using loud things all spun round to face me. Kates underboss, Skabgor or whatever, walked over to the edge of the bonnet.

"Weez mak'n improovmints" he beamed.

"You are wrecking our car!" I snapped back.

"No weez aint, da boyz are gon fit sum big fings to da trukk 'ere" he pointed down at the bonnet. I was about to raise my rifle and shoot him then and there, but Kates voice stopped me.

"Do we really have time for this now?" She asked. I turned around to face her and she was looking at me with her head tilted to the side. She was wearing her velvet pink dressing gown, covering her modest pink-faded pyjamas. Her hair was sticking up at all angles, making her look like some sort of crazy cat lady. I sighed and looked back at the Orks. The car was a wreck, but the Orks seemed to be happy to play with all the parts, and at least they weren't killing each other, the other minis, us, or destroying the house. Kate walked up and placed her head on my shoulder.

"Jesus Christ" She gasped.

"They're your Orks"

"Shut up"

"Any orders, boss?" I asked in a mocking tone despite the situation.

She gave an exasperated Sigh. "I guess we can claim insurance on it. Explain it as an act of vandalism and then leave the wreck for the Orks to play with, that'll keep them out of trouble for the time being".

"Are you sure? I mean it's mostly your car"

"What are we going to do? Kill the Orks? That won't fix the car, there's really not much we can do anymore"

"I guess you're right" I conceded. Kate stepped in front of me.

"Skabgor?" She asked. The warboss snapped to attention, which to the Ork was stand a little straighter and stand a little more still. "Can you at least promise to stay in this room until I TELL YOU MYSELF that you can move"

"Are yoo kiddin boss, weez don' wanna leev any time soon" the underboss replied excitedly.

"If any of you are caught outside the garage, we will take the car off you"

"Not da trukk!" Skabgor exclaimed, and he dropped to the bonnet and hugged his body as close as he physically could.

"A deal then?"

"Deal" and with that Kate slammed the door and locked it. "Remind me not to go in there when I go back to work on Thursday"

"Noted" we started walking back across the landing of the main door way. "So, back to bed?"

"Honestly, I feel like I've had a couple shots of adrenalin, there's no way I'm getting back to sleep now" She laughed. As we approached the staircase we could hear the sound of tiny metal clinks and cheers. I looked at Kate and raised an eyebrow. She shrugged and pointed towards the kitchen. Walking across the living room I could see that the liquor cabinet had been opened, with a couple of holes bored into the oak doors that once sealed it. My 30-year-old bottle of whiskey was spilt across the carpet, along with a cheaper bottle of vodka. Clearly the minis had struggled with taking our spirits out of the cabinet, though considering there was no alcohol left they must have eventually succeeded. Another set of cheers from the kitchen, so I stormed in to avenge the loss of my very expensive alcohol.

Arranged across the dining table was a huge group of drinking or drunk minis. They had poured most of the alcohol into shallow plastic containers, allowing them to have at it with their canteens, mugs and variety of other weird and wonderful drinking utensils. The Space Marines all appeared to be in some sort of drinking completion where they had large amounts of alcohol (mainly my remaining vodka and whiskey) and started doing a variety of physical activities, at which the Blood Angels seemed to be doing the best at. Marcus and Corish themselves were engaged in a drunken arm wrestle on top of a tipped over salt shaker, occasionally taking shots with their free arm, all while Ventris looked jealously on.

At some sort of make shift bar made from upside down TV remotes, the Imperial Guard looked as though they had a drinking competition going with the Tau, though all the Tau appeared to be unconscious on the table while the Imperial Guard were still chanting and drinking. By the looks of it all they had was beer, meaning these Tau couldn't hold a drink to save their lives. The Elysians were all flirting with the other Guard, sometimes causing the Kriegsmen to faint as they got so hot and sweaty under their uniforms even with their masks removed. The sisters also drank small amounts of beer and looked on disapprovingly, though from the circle of unconscious men around them it seemed some guardsmen were trying their luck a little too hard. The mechanicus obviously couldn't drink and instead were furiously copying down the exact details printed on the liquor bottles for reproduction later.

The Eldar, snobby as they were, had cracked open our only two bottles of champagne and were sitting around in some sort of wine club rathe removed from the other groups. They were engaged in debate that was a little more slurred than their usual philosophical discussions. Phasmatis himself was slumped backwards over his jet bike jabbering some bullshit into the air.

"WHAT THE FUCK YOU GUYS!?" I yelled. The cheering quickly died down as the entire group all turned to face me.

"David! Kate!" Phasmatis dragged himself up off his jetbike. "Come have a drink with us!"

"Absolutely not" I affirmed. "You've already ruined my most expensive whiskey"

"Common Governor!" Alexander called from the bar after the Tau pilot he was drinking with, I assume it was Forethought, collapsed. I glanced at Kate, who shrugged.

"I mean, one drink could be fun…"

++Terra, Sol System, Sol Sector, Segmentum solar++

++015.M3, 10:30, GMT+12++

Helen looked over her new dress in her full body mirror. The deep purple dress was marked with some strange symbols that she couldn't recognise. It was however, perfectly flattering. Her baby bump fat was perfectly covered up, her hips accentuated in all the right ways. Her breasts appeared slightly perkier and larger, and her waist was trimmed to the perfect hourglass figure. Even her auburn hair appeared shinier and thicker while she was wearing it. Compared to the state she was in last night it was a vast improvement. She was wearing a deep indigo lipstick, something she never thought was her colour but she automatically knew was a far better fit. Her tiny sorcerer companion looked on and nodded.

"It's beautiful, don't you agree?"

"I have no words" Helen replied. "Its…perfect"

"Just as promised" the Sorcerer gave a twirling motion with their finger and Helen complied, spinning around and showing her perfect curves all over.

"And all it costed was a couple drops of blood?" Helen said, looking down at her right wrist which was now afflicted by a scare straight across. It wasn't obvious, but it was certainly noticeable.

"A very fair deal, don't you agree?"

"You could say that again! What else can you offer?" Helen asked eagerly.

"Whatever your heart desires, with the right compensation we can bring you anything"

"I want people to stop thinking I'm crazy, I want to show everyone you…things"

"Now THAT will require a substantial sacrifice, let's work on something else in the meantime, how about we work on getting you a promotion?"

"But my boss only just got the position, she's not going anywhere anytime soon"

"Isn't she?"


End file.
